Tottenham Hotspur want Manuel Ugarte and are understood to be in discussions with the Sporting midfielder’s agent.
That’s according to The Sunday Mirror (26/03, p74) as they suggest that Tottenham are looking into signing Ugarte.
It’s stated that Ugarte’s agent has been speaking to Tottenham ahead of the summer transfer window.
Ugarte is represented by Gestifute, meaning Jorge Mendes may well be the agent speaking to Spurs.
The Mirror claim that Ugarte has a release clause of just £20million, but the Portuguese media don’t agree with that.
Record suggested earlier this month that Ugarte’s current release clause actually stands at €60million (£53million).
Sporting want to increase that to €80million (£70million) but Ugarte isn’t keen, possibly opening the door to a summer move.
Manuel Ugarte helped dump Arsenal out of Europa League
If Tottenham are to sign a midfielder this summer, they would maybe need to add a more creative option.
Ugarte is impressive though and has proven himself to be a quality defensive midfielder.
The 21-year-old is combative and very aggressive – as seen with 13 yellow cards this season.
Bukayo Saka learned that this season too as Arsenal met Sporting in the Europa League earlier in March.
With the game poised at 1-1 on the night and 3-3 on aggregate, Arsenal were breaking late in extra time.
Saka was sprinting forward but Ugarte took one for the team, absolutely slicing down Saka on the counter-attack.
That gave Ugarte his second yellow and therefore a red card, but it worked out for Sporting as they beat Arsenal on penalties.
Ugarte loves a tackle and racked up eight in that Arsenal game – twice as many as the next Sporting player.
It’s hard to imagine Tottenham making firm moves for players until they bring in a new manager this summer but if they want a pure midfield anchor man, Ugarte could be their man.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
