3 alternatives to Matthijs De Ligt for Barcelona

#2 Dayot Upamecano

Dayot Upamecano is a player who is respected a lot inside the Bundesliga

It's crazy how media's limelight can do wonders for a player. With Ajax's run in the Champions League, De Ligt has received all the plaudits and has been anonymously labeled the world's best young defender. De Ligt might be a great defender, but Upamecano is a player who is respected a lot in the Bundesliga and is certainly to watch out for in the near future.

In the winter transfer window of 2017, Upamecano joined RB Leipzig on a four-and-a-half year deal, for a reported fee of €10 million from Red Bull Salzburg. He was also shortlisted for the 2018 Golden Boy award the following year.

Playing for the same club as Konate - RB Leipzig - Upamecano too possesses pace and is good in the air meaning he is too hard to beat on counter-attacks and is very good with clearing his lines. One thing that makes Upamecano so special is his strength, which is quite high, considering he his only 20. This has 2 advantages. First, the strikers can't really win beat him in physical battles. Secondly, he is a player who can bring the ball out of the back and play those through balls for his team's attackers during opposition's high press without losing possession. He is also tactically very intelligent and reads his opponents movement quite early enabling him to stop attacks even before they began.

A player with a lot of maturity and a cool head, Upamecano is a player who can not only become a great defender in the future but also a club leader. With Barcelona lacking a real leader at the back since Puyol's retirement, he is a player Barcelona should really try to target in this summer's transfer window.