Two of Manchester United’s five summer signings are yet to feature in a competitive fixture this season: Leny Yoro and Manuel Ugarte.
The former has made his unofficial debut in Red, having featured for the club in pre-season. Then, a clash with Arsenal on the United States tour saw Yoro suffer a metatarsal fracture, ruling him out of the opening three months of the campaign.
Fans are hoping the situation will be more straightforward with Ugarte. He arrived on deadline day from Paris Saint-Germain after a lengthy, tedious period of negotiations between the two clubs but was not registered in time to face Liverpool on September 1; you can’t help but question whether the result would’ve differed had he played.
Due to his Copa America involvement throughout the summer, which saw him finish third-placed with his native Uruguay, Ugarte had little to no pre-season before returning to Paris. However, he proceeded to be omitted from Luis Enrique’s squad when the Ligue 1 term kicked off, as the expectation was that he would be leaving – whether that be to United or another suitor.
Such lack of action led Erik ten Hag to nullify supporters’ hopes of seeing Ugarte after the international break. After the defeat to Liverpool, he said it will take “a couple of weeks, maybe even months”.
Yet, the 23-year-old has added some much-needed minutes to the tank in his country’s World Cup qualifiers when playing the majority – 79 minutes – of Uruguay’s 0-0 draw with Paraguay on Saturday.
Nonetheless, when Ugarte can eventually be named in a matchday squad, treble-winner Nicky Butt has high hopes that he can make a world of difference.
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“I’ve seen a bit of him last year, and I think he’s what we need,” Butt told club media. “He’s got legs, and he’s aggressive. Hopefully, he’ll shore up that midfield.
“The one thing it is lacking, and it has got a lot of talent in there going forward, is we can be a little open when teams are on the counter-attack against us. So, hopefully, he’ll make the difference.
“They want someone to do the dirty work and put in the work that people don’t tend to like to do, but it’s a very important job in front of the back four.”
