It is public knowledge that Manuel Ugarte is calling interest from top clubs and top leagues.
However, the English clubs were the ones who showed more concrete interest in signing the Uruguayan, especially Jurgen Klopp‘s Liverpool and, more recently, Tottenham Hotspur.
In this tactical analysis, we will detail Manuel Ugarte’s position at Sporting CP and his main attributes.
We’ll also explore some of Sporting’s potential replacements in case of Ugarte’s departure.
Who Is Manuel Ugarte?
Firstly, let’s start with Manuel Ugarte’s scouting profile.
He is a 22-year-old Uruguayan defensive midfielder born in 2002 and formed in CA Fenix where he made his professional debut.
At just 19 years old, the Uruguayan moved to Portugal after a clever FC Famalicão transfer.
Although Manuel played just a few games (21) for Famalicão, he demonstrated his value and produced some outstanding performances and Sporting CP signed him in 2021 for 6.5 million euros.
After João Palhinha was sold to Fulham last summer, Manuel grabbed the opportunity and established himself in the first team, especially this season.
He is the fourth player with the most minutes in the league.
Is Manuel Ugarte A complete player?
Generally, as a player, we think that Manuel Ugarte’s style of play stands out for his general attributes, where he can develop both his technical ability and tactical knowledge.
He has unique characteristics for a player in that position.
In other words, it is very difficult to find a defensive midfielder who is well-developed technically, makes good decisions in the build-up, and is also very aggressive without the ball.
Ugarte, for instance, can use both feet during his actions, has good technical movements to keep the ball in tight spaces, and has a decent pass rate (91.7 percent in the league), helping the team circulate the ball quickly in possession.
In possession, Ugarte helps the team on the build-up by being well positioned and having excellent vision. This allows him, through long balls, to find an open teammate on the flank or even break the opposition’s lines, as we can see in the images below.
Despite his great vision, Ugarte still misses some passes, maybe because of his decision-making timing, which gives the defenders time to correct their positioning.
In the following images, we can see that Ugarte views the depth attack of the right winger.
However, the defenders are already predicting that pass, and as it goes, the pass was unsuccessful.
Manuel is clever at occupying the correct spaces, and in off-ball situations, he varies his positioning to mobilise his team, misguiding the opposition.
In this case, we can see Ugarte spotting a free space deep on the field.
As soon as he made that movement, it opened space for the other midfielder (Morita).
He also shows technical quality when he decides to dribble the ball from a more defensive position into a more advanced zone of the pitch.
For example, in this sequence of images of a game against Arsenal, we can see how Manuel is strong in this kind of situation.
This sequence displays Ugarte’s confidence in this type of scenario due to the difficulty of the play and the opponent’s level.
It also evidences the level of preparedness of the Uruguayan for the English Premier League.
Even though he’s used to playing near his own box, when Manuel is in a more offensive area, he needs to improve his shooting, which is strong but still lacking accuracy.
Besides that, he’s not a very communicative player either, which is an important requirement in that position because he’s oriented to the opposition’s goal.
Manuel is a player who, when under pressure, uses his great technical movements to change direction, pass over opponents, or even win fouls (47 winning fouls in 30 matches played in the league).
Besides that, we think that Ugarte’s body shape is not always the correct one in some cases since he receives the ball a lot with his back turned to the opponents, reducing his space awareness.
However, as we can see in the following images, the Uruguayan solves this problem by scanning before receiving the ball over his shoulder to see what’s around him, allowing him to make the best possible decision.
Manuel Ugarte Defensive Abilities
In fact, Ugarte’s defensive process is without any doubt one of his most important characteristics, and it is noticeable in the defensive organisation, especially when pressing, where we can see Ugarte near the opposition’s box to obstruct the opponent’s build-up.
Additionally, he is also intelligent in understanding his teammate’s positioning and when he should cover them.
This happens mainly whenever the centre-back approaching the attacker is not ideal.
In the image below, we can see one case that describes just that.
Matheus Reis misses a tackle, and Manuel instantly understands and covers that space.
His reaction whenever his team loses possession is also very good, which makes him a very helpful element in transition.
He is also the player with the most successful tackles in the league.
In the images below, we can see the Uruguayan again covering the centre-back, making a great defensive transition and an exemplary successful tackle.
However, Ugarte’s downside is linked to his physical attributes, specifically his sprint and stamina.
Regarding the first one, significant improvement would lead to an even more complete player who would be able to perform well in the organization and even better in transition, especially in England.
On the other hand, although Ugarte is physical, his aerial game is pretty satisfactory. He imposes his body right before attacking the ball to gain an advantage.
In this scout report, we’ll also explore the viability of each of Sporting’s options in the case of a Ugarte sale and how each of these players would fit in the first team.
Hidemasa Morita Scouting Report – The most identical candidate for Ugarte’s replacement
Let’s start with, in our opinion, the first and most credible option for the midfield: Hidemasa Morita.
Due to the lack of attackers, the Japanese is playing as a central midfielder right now.
However, he had already performed as a defensive midfielder several times whenever Pedro Gonçalves (Pote) played ahead of him.
The similarities are visible in the image below, but it is important to note that they were playing in different positions. For example, the stat that shows the shots per 90 is substantially bigger for Morita because he plays more advanced in the field.
With six goals and four assists, the 28-year-old midfielder is slowly getting adapted to the Portuguese First League and increasing his importance in this Sporting squad.
Morita is the player most similar to Ugarte in Sporting’s squad due to his technical ability and understanding of the game.
This gives him the ability to play in both of the midfield spots with quality.
He has a perfect short touch while dribbling and is one of the best at using his weaker foot (left) during the build-up.
However, since Sporting’s tactics follow a 3-4-3 model, they play with just two midfielders, and there is space for another midfielder.
Due to some financial restrictions, Sporting CP is likely to place the second midfielder internally with some players from their squad, such as Daniel Bragança, Dário Essugo, Mateus Fernandes, Mateo Tanlongo, or even Sotiris Alexandropoulos.
However, names like Jean Lucas from AS Monaco are starting to be associated with the club from Lisbon.
Let’s start with a scenario where Morita is fixed as a defensive midfielder.
In this case, we have two big possibilities with Daniel Bragança or Mateus Fernandes.
Although he’s been distanced from the competition for almost one year, Daniel Bragança is a big possibility to play in the middle as the coach stated that Daniel will be a great reinforcement for the next season.
The other viable option is the emergency of one of Sporting’s biggest youth talents: Mateus Fernandes.
If Mateus continues with his hard work, he will likely achieve a high level in the game.
If Morita is chosen to play as a central midfielder, this leaves space for the youth academy player Dário Essugo, the Argentinian Mateo Tanlongo and finally, Sotiris Alexandropoulos.
Conclusion
Due to his quality on and off the ball, Ugarte is one of the most talented and complete defensive midfielders in the Portuguese League.
If the Uruguayan is sold, Sporting needs to continue its outstanding scouting job to fill this big void.
The solution can be found in their current squad, which includes Morita and promising players like Daniel Bragança, Mateus Fernandes, Dário Esugo, or even Mateo Tanlongo.
However, a signing can also take place if the coach feels the need to increase the competitiveness within their squad.
In this case, the Brazilian Jean Lucas can also be an option.
If we had to guess, we would say that Rúben Amorim, in the first instance, would play with Morita as a defensive midfielder and with Daniel Bragança as a central midfielder.
But only time will tell.
