Newcastle United are targeting a summer move for Sporting Club de Portugal midfielder Manuel Ugarte but the Portuguese club will resist any transfer.
That’s according to Record, who say the 21-year-old has ‘caught the eye’ of a number of clubs with his performances this season and Newcastle are one of them.
They are the latest to join the list of suitors and have put him on their ‘summer menu’ as they plan the next stage of their rebuild.
Those in charge at St James’ Park are looking for a midfielder to add to the squad and have already ‘made approaches’ in an effort to try and understand if a deal would be possible.
Sporting have made it clear that it will not as they are sticking by manager Ruben Amorim’s desire to keep the core of his squad together.
In fact their hope is to ‘armour’ the player with a contract renewal until 2026 or 2027, increasing his wages to €700,000 a year. The player is happy with that but not the idea to raise his release clause from €60m to €80m.
Thus, a departure remains possible but only if Sporting can make a ‘significant profit’ on the player, particularly as they only own 60% of him.
They, therefore, will likely demand that Newcastle match his current release clause and won’t move from it. That is what they did in negotiations with Tottenham for Pedro Porro, a successful strategy they’re sure to repeat.
