Spartak buys forward Manfred Ugalde from Twente

In the near future, Spartak will make one of the most interesting and expensive acquisitions made by Russian clubs within the current transfer window. The young Costa Rican forward Manfred Ugalde, who has blossomed this season in the Dutch Twente, will cost him €15 million.

The fact that Manfred Ugalde arrived in Moscow to sign a contract with Spartak after passing a medical examination was reported by the Muy Manero Sport-Express agency, which represents the player’s interests. The information is confirmed by a number of other Russian media resources, such as Metaratings and Championat.com.

This is a very visible deal. What makes it this way is primarily the price. All sources agree that the transfer of Ugalde from the Dutch Twente will cost Spartak approximately €15 million. This is a huge amount by modern standards of the Russian Premier League (RPL), the capabilities of the clubs of which have sharply decreased after the start of a special military operation in Ukraine and the sanctions that followed. The Spartak deal claims to be considered the most expensive in the RPL within the framework of the winter transfer window that closes this week, at least along with the one that Zenit previously carried out: it bought the Brazilian Arthur for the same €15 million.

The Spartak transfer looks more interesting than Zenit’s, if only for the reason that, unlike the St. Petersburg newcomer, who has a solid track record, the potential of the Moscow club’s newcomer still looks rather mysterious due to his modest background. Transfermarkt’s estimate of Manfred Ugalde’s value is three times less than his estimate by the parties to the deal. But this fact does not mean that Spartak definitely overpaid for him.

The fact is that Ugalda is 21 years old and his quotes have jumped up in recent months. He came to Europe from his native Costa Rica in 2020 as a junior. Then the footballer signed a contract with the Belgian Lommel and City Football Group, a conglomerate that unites a number of teams led by the flagship, Manchester City, and is also involved in the development and cutting of promising talents. And a year later, Lommel loaned him to Twente – to a more powerful championship.

In it, Ugalde, who had long been entrenched in the Costa Rican national team, looked rather modest for some time, but this season he made something of a breakthrough. In 18 Dutch championship matches, he scored seven goals and provided six assists. At the same time, Ugalde showed that he feels equally at home in the position of both a forward center forward and acting as a pullback and mainly organizing attacks. Largely thanks to his effectiveness, Twente now ranks third in the championship, behind only PSV and Feyenoord.

Winter strengthening will clearly not hurt Spartak. He left for the break in the championship, ending in March, in fifth position in the championship after 18 rounds. And part of his problem undoubtedly relates to offensive efficiency. In terms of the number of goals scored – 27 – Spartak is inferior to all the clubs ahead of it: Krasnodar, Zenit, Dynamo and Lokomotiv. At the same time, Spartak’s gap from the top three is almost symbolic: only two points separate the team from the Dynamo team at the bottom.

Alexey Dospehov