With Sporting midfielder Manuel Ugarte being many times linked to Newcastle United in the past couple of months, we today get to see a couple of more mentions of the Magpies’ interest.
The chase is highlighted by Portuguese newspaper Record. They have a story today about the Lions willing to buy the remaining percentage of the player’s rights, which still belong to Uruguayan club Fenix.
Sporting are getting ready for a potential sale because there’s a ‘strong probability’ that Premier League clubs will come for Ugarte in the summer, and Newcastle are one of the sides who could make an attempt.
Record writes that with the interest from English clubs, the midfielder stalled the talks for a potential contract renewal, where the Lions wanted to raise his release clause from €60m to €80m.
That’s why an offer of around €60m is what it will take for Sporting to accept a bid for the midfielder this summer, despite the wish from manager Ruben Amorim to keep him in the squad.
The newspaper claims the ‘only certainty’ is that Premier League sides, including Newcastle, should make ‘concrete offers’.
And the Lisbon club will just be waiting for that.
