Bayern Munich’s Dayot Upamecano: ‘My stammer as a kid made me scared to talk’

“T oday I’m proud because I’ve progressed a lot,” Dayot Upamecano says as he reflects on finding his voice and overcoming the fear that rippled through him when he had to speak up at school. The Bayern Munich centre-back, an important figure for France during their run to the final of the 2022 World Cup, was eight when he first experienced problems with his speech and he has not forgotten the taunts that would fly in his direction during childhood.

“I was very scared,” Upamecano admits on a still afternoon at Clairefontaine, France’s celebrated training centre. “When you have a stammer as a kid you’re scared to talk because people will make fun of you. It’s difficult to distance yourself from it. You say to yourself all the time: ‘If I talk people will make fun.’ You don’t want to go up to the blackboard, or communicate in general, because you know people will be mocking you.”

Upamecano, who is preparing to take on Erling Haaland when Thomas Tuchel’s Bayern visit Manchester City in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday, does not shy away from telling his story. The 24-year-old does not carry with him the pain of those challenging early moments. He was fortunate to be surrounded by a good support network. He has four sisters – two older, two younger – and they always had Upamecano’s back.

“They supported me,” he says. “Always telling me to talk despite my speech impediment, even if people were making fun. They told me that I would eventually see that the people who mocked me would be the ones applauding me. The most important thing was for me to talk. But it was hard. They weren’t in my situation as I was the only one with a stutter. In the end, though, I managed to distance myself from the