It’s fair to say that Upamecano is the type of player you’d play with instead of playing against him. Leipzig striker Emil Forsberg had warned in the past that “no one” deserved to overtake the French central defender in training, and it turns out that this has been the case for some time.
Striker Timo Werner, recently retired from Chelsea, used to hit the ball in a teammate’s education matches and overtake him, but, according to German sports magazine kicker Upamecano made him think twice temporarily.
“What’s the matter, Timo?” Leipzig’s head coach Ralph Hasenh-ttl then joked when he saw the scene broadcast one of the first sessions of the defence with Leipzig in January 2017. “Are you sick?
Germany’s Werner, a foreigner, later revealed that Upamecano was his “most awkward opponent” in training. “I haven’t noticed a faster power plant and he was given a physicist,” Werner added.
Upamecano wasted little time causing his teammates like Werner to feel his strong presence, and has been doing so ever since with opposing parties across Europe. “Beast” is a word used to describe the French under-21 international, but Poulsen, leader of 6’4″ in Leipzig, believes it doesn’t happen far enough.
Watch: Watch the Mix of the Bundesliga in Upamecano!
“I’m tall, physical and strong,” the Dane told the kicker. “But I can’t move it an inch.”
The Leipzig Lukas Klostermann’s defense describes Upamecano as a “beast”, Forsberg believes that no one should play against him, while former club coach and sportsman Ralf Rangnick calls the former Salzburg stopper a “nature phenomenon”.
Leipzig technician Julian Nagelsmann, for his part, describes Upamecano as incredibly fast and strong, someone he considers an “exceptional defensive talent” that has “incredible potential.”
Statistics verify those comments, as the 6’1 central defender has won more than 60% of its head-to-head battles with conflicting parties in the 2019/20 Bundesliga season, 68% of which are air challenges.
As uncompromising as outside the ball doors, Upamecano is also quiet and precise. 91% of 21-year-olds’ assists have caught a teammate, beating former Valenciennes academy player right in the open air, the 10th most sensible in the league standings.
No Leipzig is happy that Upamecano has finished his contract at the end of July, having played 111 games since his arrival and helping his team qualify for the Champions League in 3 of the last four seasons.
“Dayot has one of RB Leipzig’s most productive defenders in recent years and can still grow at just 21,” said sporting director Markus Krsche. “It’s wonderful that he continues to grow as a player here with us.”
Leipzig finished third in the Bundesliga in 2019/20 and Upamecano at the most productive defensive moment in the league with only 37 goals conceded in 34 games. Minor injuries have caused the defense to miss six of the first games, but he believes Nagelsmann is the coach who can take him to the “top level.”
“I never doubted that I would stay,” Upamecano said shortly after putting the pen on the paper in his new contract. “RB Leipzig is my club and I can expand well here. There are a lot of players I’ve been playing with for a long time and the club has as a circle of family members for me.”
See: Learn more about Upamecano in France
A 2016/17 Bundesliga finalist and DFB Cup finalist in 2018/19, Upamecano has continuously shown that he faces almost every single challenge. Learning the game on caged community fields and hard surfaces around Evreux in Normandy, he had stuttering disorders in his training years that his ability as a footballer helped him overcome.
The fifth European under-17 champion from Leipzig with France in 201 five international matches with his country’s under-21 team. Whether in a four-man defence or, more recently, like a stone in the middle of a three-man behind, the energetic central defender has been a normal in the Bundesliga since he left Austrian champion Red Bull Salzburg in 2017.
So it’s actually only a matter of time before Upamecano joins his friends from years of training and former Borussia Dortmund striker Ousmane Dembele as a senior international. The case for inclusion through the world champions is solid given his progress in his three and a half years in Leipzig. His first start, in Hamburg in February 2017, lasted just over 30 minutes, and he was retired a few weeks later in an attack in Mainz.
Guided through Hasenh-ttl, who feared his teenage defender would get a red card, Upamecano learned to channel his aggression and enthusiasm, opting for when to use either with a wonderful effect now that it has filled even more.
“He has evolved incredibly well with us and is much smarter,” Gerguy Klosterguyn’s defender told the kicker. “He stays true to his boy and erases everything.”
A knee injury marked Upamecano for 4 months between January and May 2019, but turned out to be just a bump in the road on the center defense’s upward curve.
Described through those who know him as with his feet on the ground off the field, the former Salzburg stalwart trains infrequently on a motorcycle and visits to see lions at Leipzig Zoo.
Upamecano, however, is brave and formidable on the field, features that string together fatal strikers such as Bayern Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski and Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland.
Nagelsmann believes Upamecano may be “unstoppable” when he provides everything he can in training, and Klostermann says it’s a smart sign for everyone in Leipzig that his star defender is able to stay longer.
The player himself, on the other hand, needs to continue to succeed in new heights. “Our young, hungry team is part of an ambitious club,” he said. “I need to take the next step with Leipzig and our goals, because I’m convinced by the way we play our football.”
Upamecano has also convinced, but you have the feeling that it starts.
Get your front row seat to enjoy the Bundesliga by signing up for our official newsletter:
© 2019 DFL Deutsche Fu-ball Liga GmbH
Choose the English language