Gary Neville’s big Man Utd transfer concern rings true again as ‘talented boy’ speaks out

Manchester United signings have continued to fall short over the past decade and Manuel Ugarte has come out and confessed that his level is not where it needs to be despite reuniting with Ruben Amorim

It is nothing new to suggest that players who’ve headed to Manchester United for the past decade have generally looked less than the sum of their parts. It seems as if playing at Old Trafford sees individuals drop a level.

A number of players have tried and failed to buck the trend, including some of the most expensive buys in the club’s history. Manuel Ugarte is the fifth most expensive midfielder to sign for United and he arrived 12 months after being the subject of a transfer battle between Chelsea and PSG.

The Uruguayan had impressed at Sporting Lisbon, playing under none other than Ruben Amorim. Several players have earned big moves after excelling with the Portuguese outfit.

He failed to settle in Paris and he was signed by Erik ten Hag last summer, but a poor start for the Dutchman saw him sacked and so Ugarte was back working under Amorim. The man who had made him a player that some of Europe’s elite were chasing.

The new manager was confident their reunion would see Ugarte improve further. He said: “All the Uruguayans I managed are incredible and that’s why I love them. Ugarte is a very talented boy and has a lot of room to grow. I am very happy to know that I have him back at Man United.”

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Plenty in Manchester will have thought they had the ideal recipe to buck the trend of expensive arrivals falling well short of expectation. The current squad is full of players yet to deliver on their price tag and Gary Neville previously claimed that Old Trafford had become a “graveyard” for elite names.

He said: “I genuinely believe it’s been a graveyard for every player that’s joined that club in the last 10 years apart from Bruno. There’s not one player joined that club that’s improved apart from him. The rest of them, whether you go back to [Angel] Di Maria and [Bastian] Schweinsteiger, every player that’s signed has gone backwards.”

But by Ugarte’s own admission he is still not living up to standards with the hard-hitting defensive midfielder not delivering in an underperforming United side. He told El Observador: “We haven’t started the season very well. My level wasn’t the best either, we have to be realistic and honest.”

Ugarte has found himself stuck on the bench throughout the year, coming on as a substitute for the first two games before he was left to watch on throughout the win over Burnley.

The 24-year-old maintains that his relationship with Amorim remains a positive once despite him not being able to rediscover the form he showed at Sporting.

He added: “But I’m very confident, I have a very good relationship with the coach. I work well and I’m very excited and eager to earn a starting spot.”

Ugarte is one of a number of signings made during the Ten Hag tenure who have failed to deliver on their fees, some already being pushed out the door. Antony headed to Real Betis, Rasmus Hojlund has gone out on loan. Now the latest set of recruits, the likes of Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko, will be determined not to feed Neville’s narrative.

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