Chelsea straddle PSG with Sporting professional Manuel Ugarte in between

Next multimillion transfer

Until recently, it was considered relatively certain that Sporting midfielder Manuel Ugarte would join Paris Saint-Germain in the summer. The French champions are said to be ready to pull the €60m release clause in the 22-year-old’s contract in Lisbon, which runs until 2026. Apparently, FC Chelsea PSG straddled in the race for Ugarte for a short time.

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According to consistent media reports from France (“L’Equipe”) and Portugal (“records” & “A bola“), the Blues have the edge in the race for the “six”. An agreement between the player and the club is said to have been reached on Saturday. etc Fabrizio Romano stresses, however, that nothing has been finally decided. Further talks are to take place this Sunday, and contrary to previous reports, a loan from striker David Datro Fofana (20) is not an issue.

With a transfer fee of 60 million euros, Ugarte would be the next very expensive reinforcement of the project of the Chelsea owners, who have been active for around a year, around the American Todd Boehly. He would find himself just under the top 10 in the club’s internal ranking. In 2022/23, the Blues invested the world record sum for a season of 611.5 million euros (excluding coaching expenses) for Enzo Fernández, among others, who came from Sporting’s arch-rival Benfica and, with a transfer fee of 121 million euros, became the most expensive signing in Premier League history advanced. Together with Ugarte, the Argentine world champion could form the central midfield of the new coach Mauricio Pochettino in the future.

For Ugarte transfer: Chelsea will probably make room in midfield

In order to comply with UEFA’s financial sustainability rules, Chelsea have not only given the expensive signings very long contracts in order to be able to amortize the transfer fees in the books over as long a period as possible, but are also likely to sell players at high prices. Midfield candidates include Mateo Kovacic (29), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (27) and Mason Mount (24). In addition, it is still unclear whether N’Golo Kanté (32) will extend his expiring contract. Denis Zakaria (26) will leave Stamford Bridge when his loan ends and return to Juventus for the time being.

Ugarte has been one of the market value winners in Liga Portugal this season and has been revalued to €25m so far, surpassing only Pedro Gonçalves at Sporting. Another big plus is expected in the end-of-season update on June 16th. The midfielder, who was born in Montevideo, came to Lisbon two years ago for €10.5m and has played 85 games since then.

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