Manuel Ugarte is looking like he’s going to be Chelsea’s first major transfer saga of the summer. Although it shouldn’t be that way.
The Sporting CP midfielder has a €60m release clause by all accounts, which should make a deal a breeze. Pay the money (as Chelsea have apparently agreed to), sort out a contract and hey presto, you’ve got yourself a tenacious Uruguayan central midfielder.
But there is a big stumbling block here – PSG. The Parisians also want Ugarte, and have also paid his €60m clause. It’s not down to the player to decide, and that usually comes down to money.
Reports earlier in the week were that Chelsea had offered him a €2m annual contract, with PSG dwarfing that by offering €5m. Today, SportWitness have revealed that Chelsea are raising their big to €3.5m.
We’re not sure how effective that will be. Given PSG are in the Champions Leagues and can offer pretty much guaranteed Ligue 1 titles along the way, while we are a dysfunctional mess, surely we’re going to have to offer MORE than them, not just 70% of what they’ve put on the table.
All this messing around is going to drag on and on – and then we’ll end up offering €5m in the end anyway. Let’s just cut to the chase and find out if he’s on board, or if we should progress down our shortlist to other targets.
