Manuel Ugarte will undoubtedly remember his inaugural day at Old Trafford. The occasion started with Manchester United’s fresh £50 million midfielder dodging sprinklers on the pitch as he was introduced to the audience before the match against Liverpool. It concluded with manager Erik ten Hag emphasizing that it would take time to extract the best from Ugarte, humorously stating, “I’m not Harry Potter.”
In between his pre-match near-drenching and Ten Hag’s post-match remarks, Ugarte witnessed his new team suffer a 3-0 setback against their arch-rivals, with the player he is intended to replace, Casemiro, taken off at half-time due to his inability to fulfill the role he once excelled at during his tenure at Real Madrid.
Ugarte’s first impression was akin to watching a horror movie unfold on the pitch.
United had only finalized Ugarte’s transfer from Paris Saint-Germain on Friday night, missing the midday deadline to register him for the match against Liverpool. As a result, the 23-year-old’s debut is expected to take place against Southampton on September 14, assuming he returns uninjured from World Cup qualifiers for Uruguay against Paraguay and Venezuela during the international break.
Nevertheless, even before he has stepped onto the field for United, Ugarte is already under immense pressure to address a long-standing issue under Ten Hag: the team’s failure to maintain control in midfield.
This problem extends beyond Ten Hag’s managerial tenure; it has been evident and detrimental throughout the club’s history, particularly over the past two seasons under Ten Hag’s adventurous tactical style. United has overlooked the defensive midfield position for years, a trend that began well before Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013.
The current hope is that Ugarte may finally be the player the club has been missing for over a decade. However, he may be expected to tackle an almost impossible task. He brings youthful energy, athleticism, tenacity, ball-winning skills, and defensive awareness to Ten Hag’s side, with the expectation that he can provide the essential defensive lockdown that neither Casemiro nor Kobbie Mainoo can deliver effectively.
Initially, Ten Hag will hope Ugarte’s presence can prevent opponents from dominating the central area of the pitch, as Ryan Gravenberch did for Liverpool on Sunday. Moving forward, Ugarte and Mainoo appear to be the ideal defensive midfield duo. Although Mainoo, at just 19, is a remarkable talent, he struggles late in games as he has to cover extensive ground to compensate for Casemiro’s diminishing mobility.
During the Euro 2024 matches, Mainoo thrived alongside Declan Rice, who offered him better protection; Ugarte is expected to play a similar role, giving Ten Hag an ideal balance at the base of his midfield.
In the FA Cup final last season, Ten Hag successfully utilized Sofyan Amrabat alongside Mainoo, with Scott McTominay adding more presence and energy to the midfield. However, Amrabat and McTominay are no longer at the club, which forced the reliance on Casemiro against Liverpool.
Once recognized as one of the world’s elite defensive midfielders, Casemiro, 32, played a pivotal role in Real Madrid’s success, winning five Champions League titles alongside midfield greats Luka Modric and Toni Kroos. However, the passage of time has not favored him, and United’s decision to secure his services for £70 million two years ago now appears increasingly unwise.
Casemiro is merely the latest in a long string of recruitment errors in the midfield, intensifying the desire for Ugarte to thrive. The last time United successfully acquired a world-class defensive midfielder at the peak of his career was in 2007, with the signing of 26-year-old Owen Hargreaves from Bayern Munich, who contributed to the club’s UEFA Champions League victory the following year. Sadly, injuries cut his time short at United, leading to a string of disappointing signings in the position.
Recent signings, such as Bastian Schweinsteiger (31), Nemanja Matic (29), and Casemiro (30), arrived at the club past their prime, while players like Fred, Morgan Schneiderlin, and Ander Herrera have failed to meet the quality standards necessary for a club of United’s stature. The continuous mishandling of this critical position has compelled the club to resort to deploying players like Marouane Fellaini, Paul Pogba, and Donny van de Beek in defensive midfield roles for which they were not suited.
Thus, a player like Ugarte, with his skill set, is long overdue at United, yet he alone cannot solve the defensive midfield dilemma.
Ten Hag must also address Lisandro Martínez’s defensive lapses, which complicate the situation for United’s midfielders, and captain Bruno Fernandes needs to improve his defensive work rate by avoiding the creation of significant gaps when advancing forward.
Although Ten Hag has suggested that changes are needed, it does not require magical intervention to implement straightforward adjustments to elevate team performance. While Ugarte’s acquisition marks a positive step for the club, it is striking that no defensive midfielder has arrived with such heightened expectations due to the inadequacies of those he aims to replace.