Manuel Ugarte

The reports early in the window were they wanted £50m up front with £10m add ons.

We've done a deal at £40m up front with £10m of add ons plus a 10% sell on clause.

I've rounded the numbers slightly but that's roughly how they works out. Guessing the price came down because no one else entered the race same reason we've probably lowered the asking price on McTominay, prices of players who are for sale will always drop a bit towards the end of the window as clubs need to move these players on.

I did see he was named in the team of the tournament at the copa america which is positive and a really combative midfielder who can get around the pitch is something we are missing in the squad.

I do think we're still 1 short in central midfield but if other players aren't leaving there's not a lot they can do to get another one in.
 
JammyRed said:
I havent seen enough of him to be honest but this board do seem to know what they are doing and we need a midfield player urgently so all appears like a good idea.
BBC saying just over £42 million
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* The midfielder led the top flight of French football in tackles last season (98), despite only starting 21 games across the 2023/24 campaign.

That's a nice stat to have.
 
Signing of the Summer, for any club ....

He's got that Keane, Chris Kamara, Souness vibe, you sure you wanna try and run past me with the ball fella
 
There's a lot of shriking violets playing in midfield in France, easy on the eye but tarts, in England there will be plenty taking up his go past me if you '/@$(;#g dare challenge
 
Possibly. No telling what he's going to be like in our league. We can only go on the information we have and that is looking like he has a brain - if he gets a yellow he doesn't seem to pick up a second.
 
I think any midfielder who's playing the holding role is going to pick up cards the fact he's got 9 yellows and no reds suggests he knows when to draw the line.

It's so easy to pick up yellow cards now sometimes you just need to make sure that you stop their attack.
 
Be interesting to see how EtH plays this now, does he pair Ugarte with Casemiro in a double-pivot with Collyer and Dan Gore on the bench watching and learning, or try and move Casemiro on and play Ugarte alongside Mainoo.

Slightly favouring the first, but ....
 
Justin Cider said:
Be interesting to see how EtH plays this now, does he pair Ugarte with Casemiro in a double-pivot with Collyer and Dan Gore on the bench watching and learning, or try and move Casemiro on and play Ugarte alongside Mainoo.

Slightly favouring the first, but ....
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I reckon ultimately it will be Ugarte and Mainoo as the two but I reckon in bigger games you’ll see all three of them with Bruno as a false 9 or pushed out to the right.

I also think Gore will be out on loan soon to aid his development.
 
Justin Cider said:
Be interesting to see how EtH plays this now, does he pair Ugarte with Casemiro in a double-pivot with Collyer and Dan Gore on the bench watching and learning, or try and move Casemiro on and play Ugarte alongside Mainoo.

Slightly favouring the first, but ....
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I would be surprised to see Mainoo dropped to the bench to be honest. Why do you slightly favour the first option?
 
You would think it'll be a job share with Casemiro.

What is Ugarte like in the air? We need guys in that starting XI that can hold their own in the air.
 
If we are spending £50m on a player I can't be it anything but he's in the starting 11 every week. It'll surely be him and Mainoo that start the majority of games.
 
SuperRash said:
I reckon ultimately it will be Ugarte and Mainoo as the two but I reckon in bigger games you’ll see all three of them with Bruno as a false 9 or pushed out to the right.

I also think Gore will be out on loan soon to aid his development.
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Not sure on his current level of fitness after injury, but possible, then it would be Collyer and Sekou Kone on the bench watching and learning
 
Sideshow Bob said:
I would be surprised to see Mainoo dropped to the bench to be honest. Why do you slightly favour the first option?
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Who said anything about dropping him to the bench, he's more than capable of playing any of the three positions ahead of the double-pivot

Seriously? Kid still learning his craft and a newbie to the League to control midfield, or though ageing still one of the very best in the business and his heir apparent, tough call
 
jsp said:
What is Ugarte like in the air? We need guys in that starting XI that can hold their own in the air.
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Pretty bad in the air to be fair.

Aerial duels won - 34th percentile.

His ground game makes up for it though.

Tackles - 99th percentile [the highest you can get]
Interceptions - 98th percentile
Ground duels - 91st percentile
Ground duels won - 96th percentile.

That's animalistic.

Then add his passing in there...

Passes - 92nd percentile.
Succesful passes - 94th percentile.
Pass completion rate - 98th percentile [amazing]
 
Jayc1860 said:
Pretty bad in the air to be fair.
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That's a worry for me Utd are really weak in the air in my opinion and if he's coming in for Casemiro who's very good in the air we are exposing ourselves on set pieces at both ends again. McTominay going as well weakens our ability here.

It isn't a pretty part of the game but you do need to dominate in the air as well as on the ground.
 
jsp said:
That's a worry for me Utd are really weak in the air in my opinion and if he's coming in for Casemiro who's very good in the air we are exposing ourselves on set pieces at both ends again. McTominay going as well weakens our ability here.

It isn't a pretty part of the game but you do need to dominate in the air as well as on the ground.
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I don't disagree, but you can't have everything. It's going to be interesting to see how it all plays out, and who goes where. We can't say a lot just yet until we see just how impactful he will be in there. Perhaps he'll mop up everything or at least enough to give us some dominance in terms of possession, which for me would be worth the loss of some height.
 
Jayc1860 said:
I don't disagree, but you can't have everything. It's going to be interesting to see how it all plays out, and who goes where. We can't say a lot just yet until we see just how impactful he will be in there. Perhaps he'll mop up everything or at least enough to give us some dominance in terms of possesion, which for me would be worth the loss of some height.
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Yeah but that's a weakness from last season that I'm not sure we've really fixed with the signings so far. Would help if our 6ft plus attackers were actually good at heading the ball ;)

I like the signing gives us something we don't have in the squad but still feels like there's some missing pieces in the midfield line up for this season.
 
jsp said:
Yeah but that's a weakness from last season that I'm not sure we've really fixed with the signings so far. Would help if our 6ft plus attackers were actually good at heading the ball ;)

I like the signing gives us something we don't have in the squad but still feels like there's some missing pieces in the midfield line up for this season.
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There is definitely some missing pieces.

This is a great start though.
 
Jayc1860 said:
There is definitely some missing pieces.

This is a great start though.
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Think I said earlier in the thread this is probably the Fred replacement rather than a Casemiro replacement.

Next summer they've got to be preparing for a big spend on the midfield.
 
jsp said:
Think I said earlier in the thread this is probably the Fred replacement rather than a Casemiro replacement.

Next summer they've got to be preparing for a big spend on the midfield.
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I think we'll see Cas and Ugarte paired together quite a bit, with Mainoo finally being allowed a break. We have to remember he's just a boy growing into his body and learning the game. He's due some rest and probably won't start as much. I think we'll see various pairings though and they'll just be rotated. That's what I'd do anyways.
 
he's at the club, so I assume just waiting to announce. I read he may play vs Liverpool
 
He'll need a work permit so I suspect that's the only remaining hurdle to get through.

It's nailed on that he'll get one but these things are out of the clubs control.
 
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