Paris Saint-Germain formalized the signing of Uruguayan defensive midfielder Manuel Ugarte on Friday, the day after the arrival of the first two signings of the summer, defender Milan Skriniar and striker Marco Asensio. “The Uruguayan midfielder, who will wear number 4, is linked to the Parisian club until June 30, 2028,” the club said in a statement.
The Sporting Portugal player was transferred for around sixty million euros, according to several media, which point out that PSG was in competition with Chelsea on this issue. Ugarte’s career, followed for a long time by PSG football adviser Luis Campos, is managed by the Gestifute agency, of the Portuguese Jorge Mendes, who also takes care of his new teammates Vitinha, Renato Sanches, Danilo Pereira and El Chadaille Bitshiabu, as well as the Spaniard Asensio.
Ugarte, 22, trained at Fénix Montevideo, arrived in Portugal in January 2021, in Famalicao, and joined the Lisbon “Lions” six months later, with whom he played 85 matches (one goal) in two seasons, finishing champion in 2022. Uruguayan international (8 selections), he remained on the bench during the World Cup in Qatar where the “Celeste” was eliminated in the group stage. The new coach, the Argentinian Marcelo Bielsa, did not retain him for the matches played in June.
Ugarte is PSG’s third recruit after Asensio and Skriniar, who arrived free. New coach Luis Enrique, presented on Wednesday, is still waiting for 2018 world champion defender Lucas Hernandez, who will leave Bayern Munich. But the central question of the Paris transfer window remains the future of star Kylian Mbappé, who has one year left on his contract, which he specified not wanting to renew. President Nasser Al-Khelaïfi explained that he wanted to either sell his player this summer or extend him, but above all not “let him go for free”.
