Shapesifters Upamecano - Spend or Swerve

POSITIVES & NEGATIVES

Positives

• Upamecano’s biggest strength is his physical presence, due to his size, body type and in game attributes he really is a dominant presence in the midfield and you can feel this when going into one on one challenges

• He has a good range of passing, with his 97 Short Passing and 95 Vision you can definitely rely on him finding his target

• He has good pace, it’s not electric but definitely more than quick enough for the positions he needs to play

• Despite having low defending in game attributes, if you apply a Shadow chemistry style to him he become very solid defensively, this is also assisted by his body shape and size

• He has 5* skill moves which is a useful addition to his attacking options, allowing you utilise the 5* skill moves to add variety to your attacks

• As he is French and from Bayern Munich he has lots of ‘meta’ links, making him very useful for squad building and also making it very easy to get him onto 3 chemistry points

Negatives

• Due to his size and body type, he often feels heavy on the ball and despite having high dribbling attributes he doesn’t dribble as well as you would hope

• His shooting is good, but considering he is designed to be a striker I didn’t find it good enough, which is another reason as to why I wouldn’t play him as a striker

• He was released as an attacking player, however is far more suited to a defensive role

• The SBC is quite expensive, especially when you compare him to the tradeable options available

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TEAM AND IN GAME POSITION

Team Used

In Game Formation – 4-2-2-2 & 3-4-2-1

Position Played: CDM (4-2-2-2) & CM (3-4-2-1)

Chemistry Style Used: Shadow

Recommended Position: CM/CDM

Recommended Chemistry Style: Shadow

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PLAYER COMPARISIONS – CM/CDMs Under 500k

TOTS De Bruyne – 498k

TOTS Modric – 368k

EOAE Busquets – 255k

TOTS Verratti – 260k

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RATINGS

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VERDICT

Upamecano is very good in game, the strange thing is that he is designed to be a more attacking player however due to his size and body type I found him far better in a slightly more defensive role. Personally I wouldn’t use him as a striker or a CAM, I would use him in the centre of midfield as either a box to box CM or a CDM.

His size and physical attributes make him dominant in the middle, due to his pace you could also play him as a right midfielder but I really wouldn’t play him anywhere else.

Despite having good dribbling in game attributes he doesn’t feel particularly agile on the ball, this again is due to his size and body type.

When you compare the price of the SBC to the tradeable options about I would say he is slightly over priced but this is always expected with SBC pricing.

Overall I would say that the card is worth completing as he does perform very well in game and gives you a bit of variety as to where you want to play him. If you run a Bundesliga team and need a CM he is most definitely worth trying.

For me, it is going to be a SPEND but that is only if you need a box to box/CDM type player who you can fit in on 3 chemistry points because he really needs the full Pace/Defending boost.

If not, it’s not a bad idea to swerve this SBC as it is a little expensive and there are lots of good tradeable options out there for similar or a cheaper price.

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SPEND OR SWERVE

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FUNNY AND INTERESTING FACTS

A little bit of bonus content for you all here are some funny and interesting facts about Dayot Upamecano …

• Dayot Upamecano is a French professional footballer who plays as a center-back. His full name is Harold Moukoudi Upamecano.

• Upamecano was born on October 27, 1998, in Évreux, France. He comes from a family of Cameroonian descent.

• Despite being a professional footballer, Upamecano’s childhood dream was to become an architect. However, his passion for football ultimately took over.

• Upamecano joined the youth academy of FC Valenciennes at the age of nine. He spent several years developing his skills before moving to the youth setup of Red Bull Salzburg in 2015.

• In 2016, Upamecano made his professional debut for Red Bull Salzburg’s senior team at the age of 17. He quickly gained attention for his strong defensive abilities and composure on the ball.

• One of the most interesting facts about Upamecano is that he holds the record for the fastest sprint in the Bundesliga. During a game against Bayern Munich in February 2021, he reached a top speed of 36.1 kilometers per hour (22.4 miles per hour).

• Before joining Bayern Munich in 2021, Upamecano spent several successful seasons at RB Leipzig. He played a crucial role in helping the team reach the UEFA Champions League semifinals in the 2019-2020 season.