Chelsea have submitted an improved salary offer to Manuel Ugarte as Mauricio Pochettino looks to complete his first signing at Stamford Bridge. The Sporting CP midfielder is admired by Pochettino and the Blues are actively looking to sign the Uruguayan.
Ugarte has a £52million release clause in his contract at Sporting and manager Ruben Amorim has already admitted it will be hard to keep the 22-year-old at the club this summer. Pochettino wants to sign a new central midfielder this summer - as reported by football.london last month - with the future of Mateo Kovacic and N'Golo Kante in doubt.
Manchester City are currently in talks to sign Kovacic as he enters the final 12 months of his contract at Chelsea. Kante's current deal is set to expire at the end of June with multiple Saudi Arabian clubs interested in signing the Frenchman.
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This could see the Blues make more than one central midfield signing ahead of next season with Moises Caicedo among the players being considered by the club. However, a deal for Ugarte looks to be more advanced at this stage with the summer transfer window set to open on June 14.
Chelsea have now increased their salary offer to Ugarte after tabling an opening proposal of a £2million wage package, according to Record. The Blues have now offered a €3.5million (£3million) salary with various performance-based incentives and bonuses.
This comes after Record reported that Paris Saint-Germain had offered the 22-year-old a salary of €5million (£4.3million). Chelsea's increased offer is still some way short of the Parisians', yet Ugarte currently favours a move to west London over Paris.
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