Liverpool journalist Matt Addison has been sharing his thoughts on the possibility of the Merseyside club making a potential transfer move for RB Leipzig defender Dayot Upamecano.
This comes after Addison recently made an appearance on the latest episode of the Liverpool Echo’s Blood Red Podcast where he spoke about a variety of topics concerning Jurgen Klopp’s side.
On the topic of Liverpool potentially buying a new centre-back, Addison had this to say on Upamecano.
He said: “I think Dayot Upamecano at Leipzig would be the ideal one [for Liverpool to buy]. I think [for the] short-term he would be a really good option. Long-term as well, of course, he’s a year or two younger than Joe Gomez, very much seen as the next big thing in that sort of area.
“[Upamecano] has a release clause, I believe, next summer so potentially, that is a deal that wouldn’t be too difficult to do, but to be fair, he was absolutely atrocious against PSG last night – [in the] first half, in particular, Moise Kean, obviously on loan from Everton at PSG, ran him ragged, no Neymar, no [Kylian] Mbappe and still he really did struggle, but from what I’ve seen of him more generally, that was very much an anomaly.”
The 21-year-old centre-half, who is currently valued at £54 million, joined Leipzig back in the 2017 January transfer window from RB Salzburg for a fee of £9 million.
Since then, the Frenchman has made a total of 123 appearances for Leipzig in which he has managed to score four goals and provide two assists along the way (per Transfermarkt).
As Addison mentioned in the podcast, Upamecano did put in a poor performance in Leipzig’s recent 2-1 win over Paris Saint-Germain in which WhoScored gave him a match rating of 6.11/10, making him Leipzig’s lowest-rated player on the night.
Should Liverpool try and sign Upamecano in January?
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TIF Thoughts on Matt Addison’s comments on Upamecano…
Despite having a poor game against PSG in midweek, it’s nice to hear that Addison thinks Liverpool should make a move for Upamecano, who is reportedly valued at £36 million, in the future. This just shows how impressed the journalist has been by the defender.
With Virgil van Dijk having recently had surgery on his knee, and even though Addison mentioned in the podcast that he thinks Upamecano has a release clause in the summer, it will be interesting to see whether or not Liverpool decide to make a move for him in the upcoming January transfer window to fill in for the injured Van Dijk.