Costa Rican Manfred Ugalde signed a contract with Spartak Moscow

Football club “Spartak” officially presented his first new signing in the current winter transfer window. He became the 21-year-old Costa Rican striker of the Dutch Twente, Manfred Ugalde, who signed a contract for four and a half years. The Muscovites paid €13 million for the rookie, but the amount in the future in the form of various bonuses could grow to €15 million. Ugalde will play for Spartak under number nine.

This transfer became the second record entry deal in the history of the club; only the Dutchman Guus Thiel, who cost the Muscovites €18 million, was more expensive. Before the period in Holland, Ugalde played for the Saprissa club in his homeland, where he scored 17 goals in 52 matches. Later he moved to Europe and showed himself in the Belgian second league, where he scored 11 times in 22 appearances for Lommel. This club is part of one of the largest sports holdings – City Football Group, which owns such clubs as the English Manchester City and the Spanish Girona. Ugalde has been playing for Twente for three years now. This season, the striker has 13 points in the goal + pass system, according to this indicator Ugalde is seventh in the national championship. The forward was also named to the Dutch Championship team of the week three times.

Manfred Ugalde is a typical center forward. If you look at the player’s touch map, you will notice that he does not receive many balls on the flanks, playing much more in the center. The striker has no problems with execution, but at the same time he does not jump over his head. With a 7.91 expected goals rate this season, Ugalde has scored seven goals, and the striker is shooting frequently, with more than three shots per game.

The main trump card up the sleeve of the Spartak recruit can be called playing in the opponent’s penalty area.

The Costa Rican has a scoring instinct, chooses his position well and knows how to open himself up to attack in the opponent’s zone. Ugalde is also very mobile and likes to put pressure. These qualities will definitely be useful to Spartak head coach Guillermo Abascal, who promotes combination football with strong pressure.

However, the football player also has weaknesses, one of them is heading the ball, he is not even anthropometrically suitable for this – Ugalde’s height is only 173 cm. For comparison: Alexander Sobolev is 22 cm taller than the North American. The Costa Rican also has problems with discipline on the field : While still playing in his home country, he was sent off the field for reasons such as biting an opponent and throwing the ball in the face of an opposing player.

This acquisition is the debut for the Portuguese sports director of Spartak Tomas Amaral. The Costa Rican is already familiar to him, since at his previous place of work at Benfica, the specialist took the young player to the club for a trial. True, Ugalde did not reach a full-fledged contract with the Portuguese team. Spartak needed a second forward back in the summer; with a competent lineup, there should be competition for the position, but in fact, Spartak played for six months with the only striker on the roster. In any case, the football player cannot be called mediocre and in terms of his playing qualities, he is most likely suitable for the head coach.

However, the amount of the transfer raises questions – €13 million excluding bonuses.

Most likely, it was based on the reluctance of the Dutch club to part with one of its main assets during the season, in which Twente is likely to make it into the European competition. It will be difficult for Spartak to recoup the money spent if the player’s performance is lackluster. According to site estimates Transfermarktthe Costa Rican is valued at €5 million.

There is no guarantee that the forward will be a “here and now” reinforcement; rather, it is an investment in the future. In addition, it is worth recalling that Spartak does not really fit in with the players from the Dutch championship. The only representative of this championship who came to court in Moscow was Quincy Promes, who was bought from Twente and then returned again, but this time from Ajax. Other players who came from the Eredivisie did not show themselves at Spartak. This also applies to Jorrit Hendrix, who came from PSV, and the already mentioned Guus Thiel, and Demi De Zeeuw from Ajax.

Ivan Kopenkin