Manchester United have been given a boost in their hopes of completing a deal for Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Manuel Ugarte, thanks to Uruguay’s exit from the Copa America.
The 23-year-old has been heavily linked with a move to United this summer. PSG are reportedly open to a sale with an asking price of around £50 million.
Ugarte has been in Copa America action for Uruguay over the last few weeks. He made headlines for scoring the winning penalty against Brazil to book his nation’s place in the semi-finals of the competition.
The nation were back in action in the early hours of Thursday as they took on Colombia. But Jefferson Lerma’s 39th-minute goal was the difference between the two sides, despite Colombia being down to 10 men for the whole of the second half after Dani Munoz was sent off in first-half stoppage time.
That could potentially give United the green light to make their move for the midfielder. While his nation still does have the third-place play-off to play on Sunday, when they play Canada, that match doesn’t hold the importance of what a final would have, meaning that the player could potentially look to sort out his future earlier rather than later.
Ugarte played the full 90 minutes of the match, which was marred by scenes at full time as Uruguay players rushed to the stands as violence broke out.
