Manuel Ugarte #5

Profile

This year is Ugarte’s 25th on this planet and his 10th in professional football. He was a 15-year-old prodigy at Fénix and, in four years in Europe, he went from Famalição in Portugal to Manchester United via Sporting and PSG. The midfielder made his international bow aged 20, his mother saying: “Manuel called me and his voice was trembling because he was sharing a dressing room with teammates that, until a few days before, he was playing with on the PlayStation.” ‘El Poeta’ (the poet), as they call him, has appeared on social media alongside his mum dancing to plena, a genre of music with afro-caribbean roots. On the football pitch his defining characteristic is hard work. “You have to leave it all out there,” he says.

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