Spartak at the end of January made one of the most most expensive transfers in the club's history. Less than two weeks later, Costa Rican Manfred Ugalde, who moved from the Dutch Twente, scored his debut goal for the red and white team — against Shabab Al-Ahli from the UAE. We explain why the 21-year-old forward is worth keeping an eye on.
Ugalde's personal performance at Twente is at least good: in the 2021/22 season, the still very young Costa Rican scored 6 (4+2) points using the goal+pass system in 25 matches. In his only full season in 31 matches, he scored 11 (9+4) points, and in the 2023/24 season before moving to Spartak he scored 16 (9+7) points for performance in 25 games.
Second and An equally important factor is the transfer cost. According to unofficial information, the amount of compensation for Ugalde was 15 million euros, with an estimated value three times lower. If Spartak failed to bring down the price tag, this sale became a record for Twente.
It wouldn’t hurt to remember Spartak’s previous experience in purchasing players from the Dutch championship. The first and most striking example is Quincy Promes. The best scorer of the red and white among active players (114 goals in 235 matches) first moved to Moscow in 2014 from Twente.
However, for every such example there are several failures. Here are the midfielders Demi de Zeeuw and Jorrit Hendirks, who did not live up to their expectations, as well as one of the main transfer failures of the red-and-whites in history — playmaker Guus Thiel. In 2019, Spartak parted with 18 million euros (according to Transfermarkt, with an estimated value of 6 million euros — Ed.), but the return from his play did not even come close to expectations.
Twente even before the official the transfer to Spartak was destroyed by the media and fans. The reason on the surface is doing business with a club from Russia. After the deal took place, Twente technical director Arnold Bruggink made a public statement — his speech was similar to an apology (!) for one of the most successful sales in the history of the club.
«We would prefer not to sell the player at all. Doing business with Russia is obviously not very pleasant, but the player really wanted to leave on his own, and then we had to look for a solution. In addition, Spartak is not on the sanctions list, and lawyers checked that «Are we meeting the requirements set by the government regarding doing business with Russia? There seem to be no obstacles in this area,» said the functionary, quoted by the Twente press service.
«We would like Manfred, for example, to move to a club from a more interesting championship in the summer. We talked to him about this, but he made it clear that he definitely wants to move to Spartak. When a club offers a player a salary that is a multiple of «What he earns from us, you, as a club, have no chance. <…> It is better to let go of a player who wants it. Besides, I have to be honest — for the club the transfer fee is very high,» Bruggink added.< br>Before the parties signed all the necessary papers, former Dutch national team player Ibrahim Afellay accused those who criticize Twente of double standards.
«»This is a record transfer for Twente, doesn't that make the club better? The player gets the opportunity to improve and earn five or six times more. We can all be moralists, but this is simply not the case. A few years ago, Twente were almost is dead. Now they can get this amount, and the player wants it. This is just a legal construction, right? So I don’t understand why this discussion arose,” Afellay was quoted as saying by Voetbal Zone.
«NEC (Dutch football club — Ed.) invites a player from Israel, and this is not forbidden. This is double standards. Players should not be associated with politics. Clubs are free to negotiate if they are within the rules,» he added .
Football agent Alexey Safonov also spoke about the inconsistency of clubs from the Netherlands.
“The hypocrisy of the Dutch is somewhat surprising. Either they don’t want to take Eduard Spertsyan because he is from a Russian club (last summer the transfer of the Krasnodar midfielder to Ajax fell through — Ed.), or they sell the footballer to Spartak,” he said.
What to expect from the Costa Rican?Ugalde is not a classic center forward. With a height of 1.73 meters, it would be difficult for him to act as the main brute force. The Spartak newcomer has other strengths: he is able to operate across the entire width fields, bringing benefits everywhere, works well in play-by-play and can free up zones for team-mates to connect.
The disadvantages of Ugalde, in addition to not the most impressive for the athletic RPL, include losses in the opponent’s half of the field when trying to escalate the game. However, the Costa Rican takes risks when playing passing only in those cases when he tries to sharply aggravate the situation at the opposing team’s goal.
The question remains open — in what position will the red-and-white head coach Guillermo Abascal use the newcomer? Ugalde can become either a competitor to Alexander Sobolev for the place of the only central striker, or play in the back, creating together with Promes.