Liverpool officials apparently felt there was a ‘dearth of pre-peak, elite-level’ possibilities on the market after assessing the pool of available defensive midfielders ahead of last summer’s transfer window.
That stance, as articulated by David Lynch for This is Anfield, explains why the club paid $21 million (£16 million/€19 million) for 30-year-old Wataru Endo as a viable stop-gap solution in holding midfield.
Of course, West Ham’s Declan Rice was available for transfer, but the Reds had likely accepted that he would join Arsenal (for $130 million/£105 million/€122 million), while Moisés Caicedo would be permitted to leave Brighton for the proper price. However, as Liverpool infamously found, his preference was to join Chelsea.
Liverpool did make a move for Southampton’s Roméo Lavia, but the club would have likely met Southampton’s asking price — three bids were turned down — if it actually believed he was a ‘elite-level’ talent.
Other possible candidates included Ibrahim Sangaré, who moved from PSV to Nottingham Forest, Tyler Adams, who left Leeds United for Bournemouth, Florentino Lus at Benfica, and Cheick Doucouré at Crystal Palace, but Liverpool would have made an offer if it thought any of those players were in the top flight. Meanwhile, Fulham’s Joo Palhinha was one of the Premier League’s top number sixes last season, but at the age of 28, he was far from ‘pre-peak’.
Sporting’s Manuel Ugarte, on the other hand, checked both boxes for Liverpool and was available for a fair $64 million (£52 million/€60 million). Ugarte, 22, was coming off a strong season in Portugal, making the Primeira Liga team of the season, but Liverpool let him join PSG without a fight, and he’s already made an impression in Paris.
Manager Luis Enrique stated of Ugarte before his PSG Champions League debut against Borussia Dortmund (via French Football Weekly): “All players can progress.” He was a great revelation for many fans, and his arrival to PSG is huge. Luis Campos has done an excellent job. He’s a young player with strength and character who contributes to the team and provides balance. It’s one of the biggest surprises of the season.”
Ugarte is a fantastic ball-winner, sitting in the top 10 in Ligue 1 for tackles despite missing out on a start against Nice due to a late return from international duty, and he covered a lot of ground against Dortmund. He was second on the PSG team in ball recoveries (eight) and covered more ground (11.9km) than any of Enrique’s players.
But that wasn’t the only thing that made this performance stand out. Ugarte’s effort in possession, on the other hand, stood out. He was nearly flawless on the ball, finishing the game with an astonishing 96.8 passing accuracy after completing 61 of 63 passes, including 12 of 12 long balls. To underscore how incredible this was, Thiago, a comparable player at Anfield, has just once in his career preserved a perfect record while completing over ten long passes (in the first leg of the 2021/22 Champions League final versus Villarreal).
Ugarte, on the other hand, wasn’t just finding wide-open teammates with reasonably safe delivery — he topped all midfielders in the contest in progressive passes (five) and passes into the final third (six).
With Edin Terzic’s team sitting back and attempting to strike the host on the counter, his vision at the base of the PSG midfield was brilliant as he detected and executed passes through the Dortmund lines. On a few of times, he whipped the ball around the corner for the first time, demonstrating his level of awareness.
Some had made the case earlier in the season, but witnessing this performance under the Champions League lights, you couldn’t help but believe that Ugarte was the one who got away for Liverpool.