Chelsea’s interest in Manuel Ugarte went from “rumour” to “done deal” extremely quickly. Now it looks like it could be going the other way just as fast.
The Evening Standard’s Nizaar Kinsella is today reporting that the midfielder is leaning towards PSG after Chelsea and the Parisians both met his release clause at Sporting CP.
This is just 24 hours on from every Portuguese source saying that it was all wrapped up for Chelsea, with the Uruguay international more keen on a move to the Premier League than Ligue 1. Now Kinsella says Chelsea have “backed away from talks” and are focusing on Moises Caicedo of Brighton.
Clearly Kinsella has had some very good information behind the scenes. It seems our first signing of the summer is quickly turning into our first saga of the summer. It’s an amazingly rapid collapse for a deal that everyone on the Portuguese end was convinced was happening.
Other sources are revealing frustrations on a perceived change of heart from Ugarte, with rumours around that Chelsea had his medical booked and were expecting it to all be done imminently. Record are saying it was a crazy salary offer from PSG last night that turned the tables, but their claims of a €10m a year offer seem far fetched. Whatever happened, it looks like our chance has come and gone.
