{"id":640121,"date":"2025-12-18T11:25:21","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T11:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/640121\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T11:25:21","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T11:25:21","slug":"2026s-most-valuable-free-agent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/640121\/","title":{"rendered":"2026’s Most Valuable Free Agent"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bayern Munich<\/a> centre-back Dayot Upamecano was reportedly offered to Liverpool as talks over his deal continue \u2013 and he can sign a pre-contract agreement on January 1.<\/b><\/p>\n

Upamecano is into the final year of his contract at Bayern and so far is yet to reach an agreement over an extension with the Bundesliga champions.<\/p>\n

According to Munich-based newspaper TZ<\/a>, this has seen the Frenchman offered to Liverpool, who find themselves in the same situation when it comes to Ibrahima Konate<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Real Madrid<\/a> and Paris Saint-Germain are also credited with an interest but it may be telling that Upamecano\u2019s camp appear to have reached out to the Reds.<\/p>\n

Upamecano to Liverpool: An ongoing transfer claim<\/p>\n

\"MANCHESTER,<\/p>\n

This is far from the first time Upamecano has been linked with a move to Anfield, not least this season, with BILD<\/a> and Sky Germany<\/a> both claiming interest from Arne Slot<\/a>\u2018s side back in October<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Liverpool are expected to sign a new centre-back regardless of Konate\u2019s future, with Marc Guehi lined up last summer only for a \u00a335 million deal to fall through.<\/p>\n

Upamecano, Guehi and Konate will be the subject of even more intense speculation from the start of 2026 as they will all be able to negotiate pre-contract agreements with clubs overseas.<\/p>\n

Ranking the most valuable free transfers of 2026<\/p>\n

\"D\u00dcSSELDORF,<\/p>\n

1. Dayot Upamecano (Bayern Munich<\/a>)<\/b> \u2013 Centre-back \u2013 \u00a352.7m<\/b>
2. Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace<\/a>)<\/b> \u2013 Centre-back \u2013 \u00a348.3m<\/b>
3. Ibrahima Konate<\/a> (Liverpool)<\/b> \u2013 Centre-back \u2013 \u00a343.9m<\/b>
4. Dusan Vlahovic (Juventus)<\/b> \u2013 Striker \u2013 \u00a330.7m<\/b>
5. Bernardo Silva (Man City<\/a>)<\/b> \u2013 Midfielder \u2013 \u00a323.7m<\/b>
6. Mike Maignan (AC Milan<\/a>)<\/b> \u2013 Goalkeeper \u2013 \u00a322m<\/b>
7. Julian Brandt (Dortmund)<\/b> \u2013 Attacking midfielder \u2013 \u00a322m<\/b>
8. Ruben Neves (Al-Hilal)<\/b> \u2013 Midfielder \u2013 \u00a322m<\/b>
9. Vitaliy Mykolenko (Everton<\/a>)<\/b> \u2013 Left-back \u2013 \u00a322m<\/b>
10. Quinten Timber (Feyenoord)<\/b> \u2013 Midfielder \u2013 \u00a322m<\/b><\/p>\n

(Source: Transfermarkt<\/a>)\n<\/p>\n

Whether Liverpool would genuinely consider signing Upamecano remains to be seen, as he is already 27 and according to TZ is seeking wages of up to \u00a3300,000 per week<\/b> including bonuses.<\/p>\n

He is stylistically similar to Konate and highly experienced both at club level and as a regular starter for France, but Guehi would arguably offer significantly more upside.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, it is further claimed that Upamecano is seeking a release clause of \u20ac65 million (\u00a357m) if he were to re-sign with Bayern.<\/p>\n

Any free transfer would be far from free, of course, with the former RB Leipzig defender said to be demanding a signing-on fee of \u20ac20 million (\u00a317.6m)<\/b> \u2013 though that is \u00a335.1 million below his projected market value.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bayern Munich centre-back Dayot Upamecano was reportedly offered to Liverpool as talks over his deal continue \u2013 and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":640122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,45785,393,4884,179,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-640121","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-dayot-upamecano","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-liverpool","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115740326811776381","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}