RB Leipzig have been forced to drop Dayot Upamecano’s price-tag by a staggering £20 million as they run out of time to sell the reported Tottenham, Arsenal and Liverpool target for a sizeable sum, according to BILD.
They say Red Bull gives you wings and, in the case of RB Leipzig, their rapid rise from the third tier of German football to the Champions League quarter-finals has certainly been powered by taurine and funded by one of the biggest drinks companies on planet earth.
But their approach to the transfer market is less PSG-lite, more ‘sign low, sell high’.
And whatever amount of money Upamecano goes for, it will still see Leipzig earn a massive profit on a 21-year-old Frenchman they signed from sister club Salzburg in the summer of 2017.
BleacherReport claims that Jose Mourinho’s Spurs are keen on a defender who produced a rampaging, Carles Puyol-esque performance against them in that 3-0 thrashing back in March.
North London rivals Arsenal believe Upamecano can be the top-class centre-half they have needed for years while Liverpool, according to PassioneInter, see the France U21 international as a potential replacement for Dejan Lovren.
And with Leipzig allegedly taking the decision to reduce Upamecano’s price-tag by a third, a summer exit is looking increasingly inevitable. The Bundesliga high-flyers have no choice but to sell this year, given that their prized asset has shown little interest in extending a contract which is due to expire in 2021.
This, coupled with the ongoing global health crisis, has left Leipzig stuck between a rock and a hard place. Upamecano has gone from £55 million centre-back to £35 million centre-back in the blink of an eye.
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