Tottenham Hotspur have a lengthy track record when it comes to signing players from fellow Premier League clubs.
In recent years, the Lilywhites have brought in names such as Richarlison, Yves Bissouma, Djed Spence and Matt Doherty from a variety of top-flight clubs.
Another figure that the north London club managed to sign from one of their Premier League colleagues that has gone on to be an important player for the team is Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
This season has seen only Harry Kane and Hugo Lloris play more minutes in the league than the £100k-per-week midfielder, who has made 20 appearances for Antonio Conte’s side.
Across those games, the Danish international has the highest combined total of tackles and interceptions (60) at Spurs as well as making more blocks (33) than any of his teammates.
Despite Hojbjerg still only being 27, Spurs have seemingly identified a player that we feel would be their next version of the former Southampton figure – Manuel Ugarte.
At the age of 21, Ugarte has made 66 appearances for Sporting CP across all competitions, scoring one goal and providing two assists in the process.
Has Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg been a good signing for Spurs?
Yes
No
His efforts for the Portuguese club this season have seen the Uruguayan show how similar he is to Hojbjerg and why he’d be a suitable next version of him.
Specifically, with 16 league appearances under his belt, the midfielder comfortably has the highest combined total of tackles and interceptions (82) at the club as well as making more blocks (20).
This backs up why the youngster was labelled as a “warrior” by talent scout Jacek Kulig on Twitter.
Ugarte’s overall performances for his current side have earned him a season rating of 6.95/10 from WhoScored, making him one of the highest-rated players at Sporting.
Taking all of this into account, if Spurs and Conte look to secure a transfer deal for the midfielder in the summer, this would surely be a sensible long-term investment for the club to make.