Newcastle ‘certain’ to make a concrete offer for ‘irrepressible’ South American

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Reports in Portugal suggest Newcastle United are about to make a move for Sporting’s Manuel Ugarte.

Newcastle have been keeping an eye on Manuel Ugarte for much of this season as the ‘irrepressible‘ midfielder continues to impress at Sporting CP.

Now Record (via Sports Witness) have said that interest from the Premier League has made the 22-year-old put a hold on contract talks at Sporting.

Ugarte’s tackling stats in Europe this season are amazing

At one point this season Ugarte topped the tables for tackles across all three major European competitions. Newcastle are desperate to add a central defensive midfielder to the side this summer and that stat made the Magpies look at the young pivot as a potential signing.

He currently has a £53million release clause which Sporting were desperate to increase, hence the contract talks, but it seems that Ugarte has his eyes on a Premier League move having pulled out of negotiations.

The Portuguese newspaper, Record said the ‘only certainty’ is that Premier League clubs, including Newcastle, could make ‘concrete offers’.

Ugarte’s ability to break up play could allow Bruno more freedom

£53million sounds like a bargain for Ugarte. This season he’s made 45 appearances for Sporting in all competitions, dominating in that defensive midfield role. While he doesn’t add much to the attack directly – he’s only amassed one assist all season – having someone with his ability to defend from the midfield gives the likes of Bruno Guimaraes more freedom to get forward.

Ugarte is another one of those players who is ideal for Newcastle on paper. He’s young but also has plenty of experience having played in the Champions League and Europa League. He’s also already been capped eight times by Uruguay since making his debut in 2021.

He looks to be the complete package and Newcastle should absolutely make their move sooner rather than later before Sporting convince him to sign a new contract or some other club swoops in and picks him up first.