“When you make a mistake, you have to fix it”— Bayern Munich’s Dayot Upamecano explains the course of his development under Vincent Kompany

Bayern Munich’s Dayot Upamecano has a well known reputation for mistakes. Time and again, the narrative is that he makes crucial mistakes that sabotage his club. Whether in the Champions League against Manchester City or in the Bundesliga against Bayer Leverkusen, these high profile mistakes seem to follow him. But he keeps picking himself back up and going again. Despite these mistakes, Upamecano is an undroppable part of the starting 11 in his fourth season in Munich. How did this happen?

“Last season was a bad season for us – it wasn’t good for me either,” Dayot Upamecano explained, via @iMiaSanMia. “But the most important thing is that we are where we are today. And we have a very, very good coach [in Bayern head coach Vincent Kompany]. I’ve talked a lot with him, he’s helping me and I’m very, very happy with him. We do a lot of video analysis – also with the assistant coach. He helps me a lot and I think he helps the team too. I’m very happy because I can develop further with him. And I don’t think I’m at the end of my development yet. The most important thing is that when you make a mistake, you have to fix it and focus quickly. That’s what I did. The coach said he was happy – and that’s very good for me and the whole team.”

Is it too cliché to suggest Upamecano had to make those mistakes for his personal development? While it may be hyperbole to suggest all the mistakes were necessary, one never learns from success. It has taken mistake after mistake for the Frenchman to improve and become the kind of center back Kompany, a legendary former center back himself, trusts so totally. Now he needs to show that he can finally deliver those top class performances the entire season long.