'Disasterclass' - Chelsea fans grateful for NOT signing Manuel Ugarte

Cameron Smith

7 Nov 2023 15:16 CST
6 min read

Chelsea’s pursuit of Uruguay international Manuel Ugarte ended in disappointment this summer, with the midfielder opting to join Paris Saint-Germain instead.

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The Blues looked set to sign the 22-year-old from Sporting CP, but he decided to join PSG, with some reports suggesting the Parisians offered him higher wages than Chelsea.

After failing to land Ugarte, Chelsea decided to invest heavily in three central midfielders following the departures of Mateo Kovacic, Mason Mount, N’Golo Kante and Ruben Loftsu-Cheek.

Lesley Ugochukwu (€27 million), Romeo Lavia (€62.1m), Moises Caicedo (€116m) all moved to Stamford Bridge during the summer, with Chelsea combatting the Ugarte failure by signing three of the most talented young midfielders in world football.

Ugarte’s decision to join PSG initially resonated poorly amongst the Chelsea fanbase, with many supporters clamouring for him to join the club having been impressed by his performances at Sporting.

However, Blues fans were quick to praise the club’s decision to avoid signing Ugarte following his first-half display against AC Milan at San Siro in the Champions League.

The Uruguayan was yellow-carded for a foul on Theo Hernandez and struggled to match Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s energy in the middle of the park. Ugarte was dribbled past four times in the first-half and while he managed a 100% pass accuracy, he only completed 10 passes in 45 minutes. He also only won three of his 13 attempted ground duels.

What have Chelsea fans posted?

RLC is bossing that midfield, Ugarte is busy chasing his shadow pic.twitter.com/QtHmJCJ0DL
— Olieć (@EddieOliech) November 7, 2023

Another Champions League round

Another Manuel Ugarte disasterclass 😅 pic.twitter.com/jXWxRRKAs3
— Sébastien (@SebC__) November 7, 2023

I can’t bring myself to the liking of Ugarte’s profiles—numerous issues as a primary/secondary receiver:

• Poor interpretation of angles causing issues with lane creation/re-creation
• Struggles with dis-marking backwards pressers -> lack of options for the 8s to set to
— Mazin (@MazinMMukhtar) November 7, 2023

Ugarte would have gotten lots of red cards in the premier league had Chelsea bought him . Anytime I watch him , he gets a yellow 😂
— nkunku’s houseboy🎈 (@iamyourspec) November 7, 2023

Loftus cheek just turfed ugarte like Paez did, what a terrible player
— Rhys (@rhystakes) November 7, 2023

I am happy Chelsea didnt sign Manuel Ugarte.
— 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐁𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐮 (@MrBoadu) November 7, 2023

What Ruben is doing to ugarte rn shouldn’t be allowed on national airwaves
— Michael G🇬🇷 (@Michael_Grigs26) November 7, 2023

Is no one going to talk about this Ugarte disasterclass?
— Justeon (@Justeon44) November 7, 2023

We missed a ticking time bomb in Ugarte.
RLC has totally dominated him and the whole PSG midfield tonight. Leao looks in the mood too.#MilanPsg #milan
— Ade_Tobbie (@ade_tobbie) November 7, 2023