Dayot Upamecano has claimed he turned down an opportunity to join Manchester United as a teenager because Ralf Rangnick presented such a persuasive alternative.
The defender, who will leave RB Leipzig to join Bayern Munich at the end of this season, was targeted by United as a teenage prospect when he was with French club Valenciennes.
He elected to turn down United and move to Austrian club Salzburg, Upamecano says, after being wowed by Rangnick's precise vision for his career.
At the time, Rangnick was sporting director for Salzburg and Leipzig, with both clubs part of the Red Bull empire, and talking Upamecano into a move proved one of many successes he achieved in that role.
United had tempted the youngster, however, and Upamecano told The Athletic: "I was a young boy. I wanted to sign for them straight away. Manchester United! But then my parents took me aside and said: 'Let's think carefully about this'.
"We thought about it for a long time and then decided that going 'etape par etape' [step by step] was the best option for me. Everything Ralf said came true."
Upamecano was loaned out to Liefering before returning to make an impact with Salzburg while still in his teens, and at the age of 18, in January 2017, he was moved through the ranks to join Leipzig.
Rangnick, who had already enjoyed one spell as head coach of Leipzig, returned for another in 2018, and Upamecano said: "Ralf was the most important coach for me. He's a professor, a scientist of football, and he also cares about everything. He's always there for you with advice on matters football and non-football, every single day."
Before joining Bayern, Upamecano has the chance on Thursday to land a DFB-Pokal title with Leipzig as they head into the final in Berlin against Borussia Dortmund.
Julian Nagelsmann, who succeeded Rangnick in 2019, has been another major influence on the career of Upamecano, who describes the 33-year-old as "an unbelievable manager".
Like Upamecano, Nagelsmann will also move to Bayern at the season's end.
"He really takes you to another level," Upamecano said. "For example, because of Julian, I have improved a lot in terms of opening the game from the defence with precise passes into the midfield, and he told me to use my dribbling abilities in order to create spaces going forward."
That is borne out by data that shows Upamecano has progressed significantly while at Leipzig.
Following his mid-season arrival in 2017, Upamecano had an overall passing accuracy of 78.6 per cent in the Bundesliga, while his accuracy with passes ending in the final third of the field was just 46.2 per cent.
These numbers belong firmly in Upamecano's past, because his precision now shows a marked improvement.
In 2017-18, he stepped up those percentages to 83.7 and 55 in the Bundesliga, while attempting 130 passes into the final third of the pitch.
But in 2019-20, his overall accuracy stood at 89.1 per cent and his accuracy into the final third was a healthy 74 per cent, with Upamecano attempting 232 balls into that attacking area in league games. Each figure put him in the top 10 for Bundesliga defenders who played at least 20 games.
This season has seen a minor step back, but an 88.5 per cent total accuracy and 70 per cent accuracy into the final third continues to reflect well on the French defender, a player United must sorely regret failing to recruit.
Cooper sacked by Leicester after winless run
Leicester City have dismissed manager Steve Cooper after a run of four Premier League games without a win.
Cooper, who previously managed Leicester's rivals Nottingham Forest, only took charge of the Foxes for 15 games in all competitions.
He was appointed in June, after Enzo Maresca left to join Chelsea following Leicester's promotion back to the Premier League.
After going six league games without a win at the start of the season, Cooper appeared to have steadied the ship with victories over Bournemouth and Southampton.
However, a winless streak of four top-flight matches, in which Leicester lost to Forest, Manchester United and Chelsea, while drawing with Ipswich Town, has seen Cooper lose his position.
In a statement released on Sunday, Leicester confirmed Cooper's assistants Alan Tate and Steve Rands had also left the club, with Ben Dawson set to take charge until a replacement is appointed.
Former Brighton and Chelsea boss Graham Potter was reportedly in talks to join Leicester prior to Cooper's appointment in the summer.
The Foxes are 16th in the Premier League on 10 points after 12 games.
Southampton 2-3 Liverpool: Salah brace sends Reds eight points clear
Liverpool went eight points clear at the top of the Premier League as they came from behind to seal a thrilling 3-2 victory over Southampton at St Mary's.
Two second-half goals from Mohamed Salah turned Sunday's game on its head after Mateus Fernandes had given bottom club Southampton a surprise 2-1 lead.
Dominik Szoboszlai had given Liverpool a 30th-minute lead by curling home via the far post after Flynn Downes' dreadful clearance landed at his feet inside the area.
However, the outstanding Tyler Dibling was felled by Andrew Robertson for a Southampton penalty on the stroke of half-time. Adam Armstrong's spot-kick was repelled by Caoimhin Kelleher, but the striker kept his nerve to tuck home the equaliser.
Armstrong then turned provider when Fernandes swept home Southampton's second in the 56th minute, but their lead would not last.
Salah cushioned a searching Ryan Gravenberch pass beyond a stranded Alex McCarthy for 2-2 in the 65th minute, then saw his inswinging cross handled by Southampton substitute Yukinari Sugawara seven minutes from time.
The Egyptian scored what proved to be the winner from the resulting penalty, and he almost got a hat-trick when he crashed a shot off the base of the post in the 88th minute.
Southampton remain bottom of the table, five points adrift of 17th-placed Wolves. Liverpool, meanwhile, are sitting pretty ahead of next week’s meeting with Manchester City, who were routed 4-0 by Tottenham on Saturday.
Data Debrief: Salah helps Slot into history books
Despite a lacklustre defensive performance, Liverpool earned their 10th victory in 12 Premier League games this season (one draw, one defeat), thanks primarily to Salah's quality in attack.
Salah has become the first Liverpool player to score in five successive Premier League games since the Egyptian himself did so in seven straight matches in October 2021.
His penalty, meanwhile, was his 100th goal away from Anfield for the Reds across all competitions.
Slot has now joined former Chelsea bosses Guus Hiddink and Carlo Ancelotti as the fastest managers to reach 10 Premier League wins upon their arrival in the division.
Chelsea shake off fatigue against Man Utd to extend winning run
Chelsea had to overcome fatigue, and survive a late scare, to beat Manchester United 1-0 in the Women's Super League on Sunday.
Guru Reiten's 17th-minute penalty proved decisive at Kingsmeadow in a rearranged fixture that was postponed earlier in the campaign due to Chelsea's Champions League exploits.
United came close to ending Sonia Bompastor's remarkable winning run and keeping their unbeaten start going when Melvine Malard's effort clattered the crossbar, but Chelsea escaped unscathed to move five points clear of Manchester City at the top.
The Blues are just the second team in WSL history to win their first eight games of a season, after Arsenal in 2018-19.
And Bompastor was particularly pleased with how her team, who mustered 2.1 expected goals (xG) to United's 0.2, shrugged off the tiredness to get the job done.
"I think it was a tough game today, we were expecting that," Bompastor told the media, as reported by the Press Association.
"United do not concede a lot of goals so we knew they were coming with a good defensive organisation, and we had to have a really good game with the ball.
"Especially with the wind today, it was difficult for us to build and to play more, so I am just a bit disappointed at the fact we couldn't play more.
"Sometimes the most important thing is to get the three points, especially because we have been in a run playing five games in two weeks. I think the players are a little bit fatigued as well."
Chelsea have now won 11 consecutive WSL matches, which is their longest-ever winning run in the competition. The last team to have a longer winning run in the competition were Man City last season between November and April (14 in a row).
Maika Hamano and Sjoeke Nusken had early opportunities for the Blues, before Mayra Ramirez was brought down by United's Phallon Tullis-Joyce, who was unable to keep out Reiten's composed spot-kick.
Reiten has now netted six goals in her eight WSL appearances this term.
Johanna Rytting Kaneryd wasted a good chance to put Chelsea further in front, when she elected to shoot rather than pass and her effort was blocked by Maya Le Tissier.
That profligacy might have proved costly in stoppage time, but the woodwork came to Chelsea's rescue after Malard got a shot off following a neat bit of skill to evade Millie Bright.
"Chelsea are the best team in the country, they're the champions for a reason. We said we would give everything from the off and the players have given everything," said United boss Marc Skinner, who was without injured striker Elisabeth Terland.
"Both teams had to play the conditions, but the pride I feel for the team and their commitment to what we're doing, and know we can do, I'm proud of their performance. For us it was about being calculated and always opening up more in the second half, we changed shape in the last 15 minutes to really give an attacking threat.
"We opened up, Chelsea took a few more opportunities. You have to balance the game, you go toe-to-toe with Chelsea and they probably win against most teams."
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