Technical director Arnold Bruggink is not happy with the striker’s departure, but is also realistic: “It is very complicated. We would have liked Manfred to go to a club from a more interesting competition, for example in the summer. We have We had many conversations with him about this. However, he has indicated that he absolutely wants to go to Spartak. The moment a club offers a player a salary that is a multiple of what he earns with us, you as a club have no chance. Of course we had can keep him to his contract, but what does that do to a player. We want a player who really wants to play for FC Twente. It’s better to let a player who doesn’t want that go. Besides, it’s like this, and there I want to be honest about the fact that the transfer amount is a very high amount by FC Twente standards.”
Arnold Bruggink is not afraid that Ugalde’s departure will have sporting consequences: “You can never be sure, but with Ricky van Wolfswinkel we have an excellent striker at our disposal. It is not without reason that he has made great progress in the limited playing minutes he has made. We have already scored seven times. We also hope to attract an extra attacker this week. We continue to aim for the top places and want to finish higher than last season.”
The club receives questions about doing business with Russia, how does FC Twente view this? Arnold Bruggink: “We would prefer not to have a player transferred at all. Doing business with Russia obviously doesn’t feel good, but as I said, the player absolutely wanted to leave himself and then you have to look for a solution. In addition, Spartak Moscow is not on the sanctions list and lawyers have investigated whether we meet the requirements set by the government regarding doing business with Russia. There appears to be no obstacle in this area.”
Over Manfred Ugalde
Manfred Ugalde played in Costa Rica for Saprissa and moved to Belgian side Lommel SK in 2020. A year later, Ugalde came to FC Twente on a rental basis and last summer Ugalde signed a contract in Enschede. Manfred Ugalde played 80 official matches in recent seasons, scoring 21 times.