Manuel Ugarte will never forget his first day at Old Trafford. It began with Manchester United’s new £50 million midfielder narrowly avoiding being soaked by sprinklers on the pitch as he was introduced to the crowd before the game with Liverpool and ended with manager Erik ten Hag warning it will take time for him to get the best from Ugarte because: “I’m not Harry Potter.”
In between his prematch sprinkler escape and Ten Hag’s postmatch comments, Ugarte watched his new team get dismantled in a 3-0 defeat against United’s biggest rivals, with the player he has been signed to replace, Casemiro, substituted at half-time because he was simply incapable of performing the role he used to occupy so majestically for Real Madrid.
As a first impression, Ugarte had just witnessed the football version of a horror movie.
Having only completed Ugarte’s transfer from Paris Saint-Germain on Friday evening, United missed the midday deadline to register him in time to face Liverpool. As a consequence, the 23-year-old’s debut is likely to be against Southampton on Sept. 14, providing he returns unscathed from Uruguay’s World Cup qualifiers against Paraguay and Venezuela during the international break.
But already, without having even kicked a ball for United, Ugarte is under huge pressure to be the solution to a problem that has been a constant under Ten Hag: the team’s inability to control games from midfield.
In truth, it is an issue that pre-dates Ten Hag’s time at the club. It has perhaps been more noticeable, and damaging, during Ten Hag’s two full seasons at Old Trafford due to the cavalier nature of the former Ajax coach’s tactical approach, but United have neglected the defensive midfield area since long before Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013.
The hope now is that, in Ugarte, the club have finally signed the player that they have lacked for over a decade. The problem is that he might just be expected to pull off an impossible job. He will certainly bring youthful energy, athleticism, tenacity, ball-winning ability and defensive awareness to Ten Hag’s team, with the expectation that he will provide the lock on the door that neither Casemiro nor Kobbie Mainoo are equipped to deliver.
For a start, Ten Hag will hope that Ugarte’s presence will avoid opponents dominating the central third of the pitch as Liverpool’s Ryan Gravenberch did on Sunday. Ugarte and Mainoo is the obvious defensive midfield axis going forward. Mainoo, 19, is an exceptional talent, but he struggles toward the end of games for United because he has to cover too much ground to compensate for Casemiro’s lack of mobility.
With England at Euro 2024, Mainoo proved to be much more effective with the protection offered by midfield partner Declan Rice; Ugarte should be able to play the same role and give Ten Hag the perfect blend at the base of his midfield.
When defeating Manchester City in the FA Cup final last season, Ten Hag deployed Sofyan Amrabat alongside Mainoo in midfield, with Scott McTominay adding additional presence and energy. Amrabat and McTominay are both no longer at United, which is why Casemiro was selected against Liverpool.
Casemiro, 32, was once one of the world’s greatest defensive midfielders, helping Real Madrid win five Champions League titles during his time alongside Luka Modric and Toni Kroos in the club’s stellar midfield. But time has been no friend to the Brazil international, and United’s decision to sign him in a £70m transfer two years ago looks increasingly naïve.
Yet Casemiro was merely the latest in a long line of recruitment mistakes in midfield that have left United so desperate for Ugarte to succeed. The last time United signed a world-class defensive midfielder at the peak of his career was when they recruited the 26-year-old Owen Hargreaves from Bayern Munich in 2007. The England midfielder helped United to UEFA Champions League glory a year later, but injuries prematurely curtailed his career at the club and United have since lurched from one mistake to another on that position.
Bastian Schweinsteiger (31 when signed), Nemanja Matic (29) and Casemiro (30) were all past their best when recruited by United, while Fred, Morgan Schneiderlin and Ander Herrera were never of the quality required to play the defensive midfield role for a club of United’s stature. The repeated failure to make the right signings — Manchester City enjoyed great success by signing Fernandinho and then Rodri while United floundered — even led to the likes of Marouane Fellaini, Paul Pogba and Donny van de Beek being deployed in defensive midfield and all being ill-equipped for the role.
So a player with Ugarte’s skill set is long overdue at United, but he will only be able to solve the defensive midfield problem.
Ten Hag will still need to address Lisandro Martínez’s defensive recklessness, which has created issues for United’s midfielders, and captain Bruno Fernandes must learn to stop exposing his deep-lying teammates by leaving huge gaps when running forward and then displaying less enthusiasm for tracking back.
Despite Ten Hag’s suggestion, it does not require the magic of Harry Potter to make some obvious tweaks to his team to ensure that it performs as it should. The signing of Ugarte is unquestionably a step in the right direction, but never has a defensive midfielder arrived at a new club accompanied by such a frenzy of anticipation as a consequence of the shortcomings of those he has been signed to replace.
