Liverpool are ready to trigger Manuel Ugarte’s release clause according to fresh reports.
The Sporting Lisbon midfielder, who is also attracting interest from PSG, has impressed in the Portuguese top flight this term and Jurgen Klopp’s side are willing to pay the required £52m to bring him to Merseyside, that’s according to Le Parisien (via Football365).
Reports recently suggested that that the Uruguayan has already ‘agreed terms’ with the Ligue 1 giants but scouts from the Anfield outfit were in Lisbon last weekend to watch the 22-year-old and his teammates play out a 2-2 draw with city rivals Benfica.
Klopp is desperate to strengthen his options in the middle of the park this summer with Naby Keita, James Milner and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain leaving the club upon the expiry of their contract in the coming weeks.
Alexis Mac Allister is the main name being linked with L4 but a move for Ugarte would also be a quality bit of business for the club.
Both players have impressed for their respective clubs this term and they would bring a lot of quality and composure to the engine room – something that was lacking for the majority of our campaign.
Our struggle for consistency until the latter stages of the season means that we’ve missed out on a top four finish.
With us now unable to offer Champions League football that could certainly give PSG the upper hand in the race for the Sporting Lisbon man – we’ll just have to wait and see what happens!
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