Discoloured spot with scratchy sound

Hello!
I'm quite new to vinyl and friend of mine gifted me a VG+ record. However, I noticed some strange discoloured spot on it with small black smudge, and when played, it makes an odd, short scratchy sound.. like rubbing wood with sandpaper (in this specific place). I already tried to clean it using local store's help (they have expensive cleaning machines), but to no avail . I did not try to wet clean it myself, however.
Any advices?

https://imgur.com/a/no1T37B
https://imgur.com/a/tlqahcz

The sound you describe sounds like a non-fill issue but the pictures don't look like it, but non-fill is much harder to spot on coloured vinyl!
Non-fill

Could well be any number of pressing faults in which case no amount of cleaning will improve it and might even worsen it.

Regards Edd

EddKarma
The sound you describe sounds like a non-fill issue but the pictures don't look like it, but non-fill is much harder to spot on coloured vinyl!
Non-fill

I've got some more high quality pictures, but yeah, one buddy of mine told that is manufacturing defect too :(
https://imgur.com/a/PktzZ9R
What do you think, same verdict?
Thank you!

That looks like some contamination in the vinyl to me. Perhaps some lowergrade plastic (or indeed something else) got in the mix during manafacture.
Regards Edd.

It also looks like, somewhere along the chain of custody, somebody attempted to "spot-clean" that area with an alcohol based agent. You can see the discoloration around the pressing fault when held up to the light. Super obvious on colored vinyl, and more than likely that is the cause of the noise. Unfortunate, but still an awesome gift! You have good friends OP.

Wow, really great analysis from you guys! Thanks! Now I am much smarter in this topic ;)

Is it possible, that upgrading my setup from Ortofon 2M Red to something more serious (in the future) will reduce the noise?

Indeed. Noise reduction will improve for sure. You'll want to make sure your LP's are spic-and-span first though. Nothing ruins a nice setup faster than dirty records. Check the other forums too. It's a sea of useful knowledge.