Newcastle United are one of a few clubs who have been ‘offered’ the chance to sign Uruguayan defensive midfielder Manuel Ugarte from Sporting Clube de Portugal.
One of the advantages of Newcastle’s raised profile is the increased frequency agents proactively seek to engineer a transfer for their clients to our club. Reports coming from Mundo Deportivo in Spain suggest that Newcastle are among a handful of clubs who have been offered the chance to sign Manuel Ugarte.
At just 21-years-old, Ugarte is already viewed as Sporting‘s key enforcer having registered the most tackles across all three European competitions this season with 17 in eight appearances. He will be looking to add to that tally tomorrow as Sporting meet Arsenal in the Europa League.
Target Scouting compiled a report on Ugarte before he made his move to Sporting and concluded that he was “one of the most exciting players in Uruguay at the moment and he has a bright future ahead of him.”
Agent, Jorge Mendes seems to be proactively looking for Ugarte’s next step and has approached Newcastle, Tottenham, Wolves and Barcelona with the opportunity to sign him should they wish to activate his £53.4million release clause. It’s unlikely, given his performances, that Sporting would be willing to part with Ugarte without a fight, so if any club was to make an offer, they’d probably have to activate that clause.
It would be an impressive profit for Sporting, though, having only signed him for £6.2million in 2021.
Ugarte has already racked up six full international caps for Uruguay having also represented his country at Under-20 and Under-23 level. He traveled to the World Cup in Qatar last year, but didn’t end up featuring in the competition.
A strong defensive midfielder is something that could definitely add an extra dimension to Newcatle’s play. While Bruno Guimaraes was originally brought in for that role, it quickly became apparent that he was more useful supporting the attack. His Brazilian teammate, Joelinton picks up a lot of slack in midfield, amassing a collection of yellow cards for his trouble, but it’s not his natural position.
Despite being just 21, Ugarte has plenty of experience playing at the highest level and could be an excellent addition to Eddie Howe‘s midfield and would give him more options to change things up to suit the opposition.
His performances this season will have turned heads, and if it continues in the same vein there’s likely to be quite the tussle for his signature come the summer and Newcastle should definitely be in the mix.
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