Chelsea have made a major midfield transfer decision which has seen them pull out of the race to sign Manuel Ugarte from Sporting CP. The Blues appeared to be winning the race for his signature against Paris Saint-Germain but a dramatic turn of events saw PSG leapfrog Chelsea to take the initiative which resulted in the latter pulling out of negotiations altogether.
Both teams willing to pay his €60million (£51m) release clause made talks with Sporting rather straightforward forward but personal terms were where problems began to arrive. Throughout negotiations it has been reported that PSG were always offering a more lucrative salary than Chelsea but that Ugarte's preferred destination was the Premier League.
However, a summer transfer to PSG now seems inevitable with Chelsea pulling out of the race late into Sunday evening, as first revealed by CBS reporter Ben Jacobs. He also noted that the Blues increased their wage proposal but PSG's continued to remain higher and thus Chelsea were not prepared to go above market value.
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Ugarte looked likely to be the first signing completed under Mauricio Pochettino, but Chelsea walking away from the deal proves the club have learnt from past mistakes. For the signings of Marc Cucurella and Mykhailo Mudryk, other Premier League clubs were in the race but were completely blown out of the water by Chelsea's offer.
However, in this case, it is Chelsea who have chosen to not pursue a transfer because of another team's more significant offer. According to Record in Portugal, PSG were first offering a package of €5million (£4.3m) to Ugarte but then chose to double his personal terms to €10million (£8.6m), whereas Chelsea, who were initially putting forward €2million (£1.7m), were then not prepared to come close to that number.
For Chelsea, it is now about looking at midfield alternatives with it likely that two additions will be made in the middle of the park. As football.london reported on Sunday, Chelsea are expected to push for a move to sign Moises Caicedo from Brighton in the upcoming summer transfer window.
Romeo Lavia and Manu Kone are other names on the list, but it is likely Caicedo will become the new priority following Chelsea's decision not to sign Ugarte.
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