At the weekend, reports from the Portuguese media said Aston Villa would send scouts for the match between Sporting and Benfica.
With the Villans interested in Lions’ midfielder Manuel Ugarte, they would see him performing in his last big game of the season.
It turns out that as newspaper Record today writes about the match, they have a couple of reasons why Aston Villa should be impressed with what they saw.
First when rating the performances of Sporting players, the outlet gives Ugarte 4 out of 5, saying he was the Lions’ man of the match.
Then as Luís Avelãs writes his column about the game, he says the midfielder is ‘about to pack his bags’, because if there were any doubts from clubs who’d like to sign him, his display was good enough to show he’s soon leaving the Lisbon club. The Uruguayan is called a ‘giant in midfield’ who can play ‘anywhere in Europe’.
Aston Villa’s links with Ugarte have been ongoing since March. Unai Emery’s side had already scouted him before, and it was said that after ‘exploratory contacts’, the Villans were the ‘most likely destination’ for the midfielder this summer.
That shouldn’t be an easy signing, though, firstly because of the competition, and then due to the player’s price, which is believed to be €60m.
