Aston Villa are reportedly targeting a move for Sporting midfielder Manuel Ugarte this summer, and are already in talks over a potential deal.
The 22-year-old has established himself as a pivotal figure for the Portuguese giants, making 83 appearances since his move from Famalicao in August 2021.
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He’s also earned eight caps with Uruguay, and there is a sense that he has a big future ahead of him for both club and country moving forward as he continues to develop and improve his game, to become one of the leading defensive midfield talents in Europe.
According to The Sun, Ugarte is said to be one of the top targets for incoming director of football Mateu Alemany, and talks are already underway to try and get a deal done, albeit both Liverpool and Newcastle Utd are also credited with an interest in him.
It’s added that Ugarte has a £52m release clause in his current contract with Sporting, and so it remains to be seen if an agreement can be reached between the two clubs and with the player himself on personal terms, but Villa are seemingly in the hunt to land his signature this summer.
It promises to be a fascinating transfer window for us as Unai Emery gets his first real opportunity to significantly strengthen the squad and mould it into his own with new faces arriving, and the report above suggests he’ll certainly get the backing of the club’s hierarchy as it’s claimed that we’ll have around £200m to spend this summer.
Time will tell just how accurate that is and whether or not Ugarte is a genuine possibility for us, but we’ll certainly be busy in the coming months either way as we look to take that next step after a brilliant start to life as Villa boss for Emery.
There is of course plenty left to play for this season as we hope to secure European qualification, and that will do us no harm in attracting new players this summer if we can offer the opportunity of playing in one of those competitions too.
In turn, the focus remains on our remaining three Premier League fixtures, but Ugarte could form part of a hugely exciting and ambitious transfer strategy in the coming months to raise the level of the squad further and make us increasingly competitive.
