Manfred Ugalde – Deportivo Saprissa’s prodigious striker
Manfred Ugalde is the youngest debutant for the Costa Rican National Team as at 17-years-old, the young striking talent made his first appearance against the United States Men’s National Team. Ugalde is also touted to make a move breaking Joel Campbell’s record for the most spent on a Deportivo Saprissa youngster at $2.8 million. Earlier this year, he travelled to Genk and toured their facilities in the hope of making a move but returned to Costa Rica as he has been a constant in leading the line for Walter Centeno’s side. He has spoken of a hope to play for Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City while his agent believes Deportivo Saprissa will demand top dollar for his services.
Ugalde is young but carries his family on his shoulders frequently doing well to help his family financially and being in constant contact with them as he treasures those relationships. He is not your average 18-year-old, he is a shorter striker with muscular thighs and legs, a low centre of gravity, pace and strong core strength to hold possession. Ugalde made his debut as a 17-year-old against Limon FC last year as he took a significant leap in Saprissa’s pre-season training camp in Mexico. He has had instances where he has lost his head as in the Clasico against Alajuense, he bit Junior Diaz, but he apologized and faced the consequences of his actions. He is comfortable leading the line at club level, holding the nine space, occupying his defender before making well-timed drops into space to receive the ball and lay-off to teammates. His coach, Walter Centeno has always preached caution when it comes to expectations of the teenager.
"Leave him alone please, I think he is a 17-year-old boy, nothing can be done yet, there is nothing concrete about a contract because he is 17 years old, let's not fill him with pressure, When children are told something, they get bigger, they say it out there, they get drunk, let's be careful, we do not give much importance to that, let us continue playing, enjoy the game, we have put it in certain things, some pressure, a boy who is in the process of growing,” said Centeno to Costa Rican media in March last year.
His first-touch can be erratic as times, he can control long balls with his feet to work a pass to a teammate while at other times, his first touch will be heavy with the opposition regaining possession or Ugalde being forced to work a harmless lay-off to a teammate. As he has gained more playing experience, Ugalde has improved with his back to goal, receiving the ball to turn and flick the ball onto a runner but his passing can be imprecise, not having the proper weighting and angle, rolling harmlessly into the goalkeeper’s grasp. Ugalde is a more natural and old-fashioned nine as he comes alive around the opposition box, being able to fashion shots or create opportunities rather than in the deeper areas where he will need to continue to develop his link-up play.
His movement in the opposition box is clever as at times in crossing situations when he has three other men with him in the box, he will make a run towards the ball, dragging a marker with him and creating space in the centre of the box for a teammate to have a free header. Despite his lack of height, Ugalde challenges opposition defenders in aerial duels for the ball as against Impact Montreal, with his team 2-0 down, he rose highest to head in a free-kick at the near post to pull one back. His movement in build-up and counter-attacks is also intelligent as Centeno has developed his senses of positional play, dropping deep to receive the ball before laying it off and pushing forward, creating space for another attacker to drop deep and receive the ball.
He can work connections around the box for his teammates to have shooting opportunities as in the Concacaf Champions League against CD Olimpia, he trapped a long ball with his right foot, muscling past a defender to lay-off for a teammate to hit a shot off the crossbar from the top of the box. In the first-half against Jicaral, a teammate dropped to receive the ball as Ugalde made a slight movement to receive the ball in the nine space as he received the ball, laying it off to a teammate as his teammate chipped the ball back to him for the 18-year-old to nudge the ball in behind as the last defender cleared the ball off the Saprissa attacker for the ball to bobble past the keeper and for the Saprissa attacker to tap-in.
Ugalde’s instincts and movement in the final third are highly developed as he is more effective facing the opposition goal than with his back to goal. He is constantly scanning to maintain an awareness of the last defender, faking and timing his runs to not be offside as he takes particular care in being available for through balls in behind. His creativity in the final third is dissimilar from other attackers who focus on playing with their back to goal as his movements can be much more elaborate. In a Concacaf Champions League game at home to the Montreal Impact, the ball was played to the left sided attacker who dropped into a deeper area in that zone for Ugalde to move into the left half-space while moving into his teammate’s line of sight to show for the ball, the attacker then passed the ball to the wing-back in the lateral zone for Ugalde to drop deeper to be a passing option for the wing-back as he cut inside. He received the ball then worked a pass to the winger who was now occupying the lateral zone before making a run into the half-space, the winger played the ball to the fullback who worked a diagonal pass into the centre, Ugalde made a curved run from outside the half-space into the central zone in the box to take on a squared pass in a good shooting position before he was tackled.
Ugalde will sometimes make a movement into the deeper positions just to draw his centre-back out of position and allow the winger to make a run into the half-space to receive the ball and have a good shooting opportunity. He will need to improve and adjust the timing of his runs to get in front of defenders for aerial crosses as he has the jumping ability, but he just lacks the nuance of how to make a slight split-second adjustment to get in front of his marker to gain aerial dominance. However, he is clever at running and utilising his movement into free space if a fellow attacker draws a defender out of his position. For instance, at home to Muncipal Grecia, he received the ball in the deeper areas before working it out wide, continuing with a run into the centre where he received a low cross in space to divert it straight at the keeper. In the same game, Ugalde received the ball in the channels, facing two opposition defenders as he turned his back to them, facing the touchline to lull them into a false sense of security. He suddenly spun and drove to the by-line to lob a cross to the back-post for Johan Venegas to head in.
Ugalde is skilled in shouldering his defensive responsibilities as he is a gritty player in the counter-press. As soon as possession is lost in his zone, he will chase the player in possession to regain possession with a well-timed challenge before attempting recycle possession into an attacking wave. In the pressing phase, he will charge at the keeper with intent chasing possession to the centre-backs in an attempt to force a turnover as his dedication to the defensive side of the game is one of the first themes of his game that grabs the attention. He also does well to regain possession in the opposition box as at times, he will use his highly developed core strength and low centre of gravity to put himself in between the defender and the ball to nudge his marker out of the way and regain possession.
"Manfred's growth has been quite important, he is a player in whom we all have high expectations, I mean us as a team, we know the conditions he has and that he is doing well. Obviously perhaps because of his young age and youth, sometimes one does not react well to certain circumstances, he has taken it easy, he recognised that he was wrong and that is called humility, it is to admit it, he has worked well and is waiting for the opportunity to keep growing as it has done so far,” explained strike partner, Johan Venegas to the media before a Concacaf Champions League game in August last year.
Ugalde has recently come out of a rough patch in front of goal, ending a goalless streak against Jicaral as the 18-year-old has amassed an astounding return of 16 goals this season. With his age, talent and potential, he could be a bargain for mid-tier European clubs looking for a striker with high resale value as he has said that Europe is the only option for him. He has developed and adjusted to the demands of Centeno’s tactical structure as he is part of a highly talented Costa Rican U23 side who will battle with the United States for a place at the Tokyo Olympics. It is rare that clubs develop true old-fashioned strikers as Ugalde is one of the few coming through the ranks in World football as it has been stated that pure strikers mostly come from his part of the world.
