Chelsea to trigger release clause of Sporting Lisbon midfielder who is said to be in talks with PSG

Chelsea are said to be more than ready to trigger the £52 release clause for Manuel Ugarte who is said to have been in talks with PSG.

This is according to the Daily Mail, who say that the Blues want to scupper the Parisians’ attempts to bring Ugarte to Ligue 1.

Chelsea’s desperate need for an out-and-out defensive midfielder is well documented, with Ugarte’s £52million release clause catching their eye and the catalyst for them potentially making the move would be thanks to the competition from PSG this summer.

The 22-year has burst onto the scene in 2022/23, making 47 appearances in all competitions for Sporting, proving himself to be one of the more talented young defensive midfielders at a reasonable price.

At 6ft, he doesn’t have the stature that you would associate with a tough-tackling, hard-to-get-past, bruiser-type player, but his stats this season prove that he’s got what it takes to take control of the deep midfield area for any team.

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This news around the Uruguayan midfielder comes just 48 hours after Simon Phillips reported that Chelsea had made Brighton’s Moises Caicedo their number one engine room target ahead of the summer window, so with rumours swirling around left, right, and centre, Chelsea fans are none the wiser as to who they’ll be signing this summer to solve what has been a position in desperate need of attention for a few seasons.