Kobbie Mainoo could leave Man Utd on loan in January but there is another midfielder at Old Trafford whose days look numbered.
Manuel Ugarte should have had a head start on his Manchester United teammates when Ruben Amorim was appointed at Old Trafford in November 2024. After all, Ugarte played 85 games under Amorim at Sporting.
His form was good enough in Lisbon to earn a move to Paris Saint-Germain and although his stay in the French capital lasted only one season, he was signed by United in the summer of 2024.
Erik ten Hag wasn’t entirely convinced the Uruguayan was the right man, but spoke warmly of him after his arrival for £50million. A relatively slow start to life at United was supposed to gain momentum under Amorim.
That isn’t how it has played out. He has started just 21 of Amorim’s 41 Premier League games in charge and none since defeat to Brentford at the end of September. There have been just 77 minutes in eight league matches since then and he has been an unused substitute for three of the last five games.
These are damning statistics for a £50million midfielder who had a prior relationship with his head coach. Given Amorim has a plug-and-play system that he used at Sporting, Ugarte should have picked it up quicker than any of his teammates. Instead, he has drifted to the fringes of the team.
Amorim accepted a couple of weeks ago that Ugarte was finding it difficult at the moment, but insisted he wanted to help the 24-year-old come out the other side of it.
“You can sense a lot of very good players come here, and sometimes they struggle,” he said. “He is struggling at the moment but it is our job to try to help and help him to feel like I felt when he was a Sporting player.
“But it is a different world. He needs to adapt, and he needs to improve, especially in training.”
Amorim told Ugarte he wasn’t at the level he showed at Sporting in a team meeting after the Europa League final defeat and the evidence continues to mount that he might not get back there.
He is probably the most defensive midfielder in this squad, given Casemiro’s penchant for getting forward and into the opposition box, but he isn’t making the team look any more secure when he plays.
Part of the reason for his introduction 13 minutes from time against West Ham on Thursday was to see out a 1-0 lead, but United conceded. That might not have been directly down to Ugarte, but the case against him is mounting.
United have conceded 14 of their 23 goals this season when Ugarte has been on the pitch and that isn’t a great reflection of his ability to offer protection to his defence.
It looks increasingly likely that a United midfielder will leave on loan in January, with Kobbie Mainoo playing even less than Ugarte. The 20-year-old has managed just 171 minutes in the Premier League and hasn’t started in that competition this season. It seems Amorim has no faith in him.
Ugarte is faring only marginally better. There has to be a question as to his long-term future at Old Trafford and if a midfielder is to leave the club next month, there is an argument it should be Ugarte rather than Mainoo.
