Manchester United Faces Long-Term Challenge with Manuel Ugarte
Manchester United thought this summer would bring a clean break with Manuel Ugarte. Instead, a long-term issue has been pushed several yards further down the road.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the club’s co-owner and INEOS chief, had already made up his mind by spring. According to a report in The Athletic in April, Ratcliffe watched Ugarte against Leeds United and left Old Trafford convinced: the midfielder should be sold.
United were ready to act in the transfer window. After two underwhelming seasons following his arrival for more than £50 million in 2024, Ugarte was put on the market. The plan was simple in theory, brutal in practice: cut losses, free up wages, and move on.
It was never going to be easy.
ESPN report that United calculated they would need a bid of around £20 million to help balance the books. Given Ugarte’s form and salary, that figure already looked optimistic. The club’s realistic best-case scenario became a loan move, with another side willing to shoulder his wages.
Then came the World Cup.
Playing for Uruguay at the 2026 finals this summer, Ugarte suffered a serious knee injury. Any chance of a transfer vanished in an instant. The midfielder, still only 25, will now remain at Old Trafford at least until next summer.
United will have his wages covered in the short term by FIFA’s Club Protection Programme, which compensates clubs when players are injured on international duty. Financially, that offers some breathing space. Strategically, it solves nothing.
Ugarte is under contract until June 2029. That is the crux of the problem. What was supposed to be a controlled exit now threatens to become a slow-burning saga.
ESPN describe the situation as the kind of long-tail issue new chief executive Omar Berrada and technical director Jason Wilcox are desperate to avoid: a high-earning player, on a lengthy deal, whose market value has dropped and whose recent injury only complicates any escape route.
Even if Ugarte returns to fitness on schedule, United will still be trying to shift a player who has yet to justify his fee, has not convinced the new ownership, and is tied to the club for another five years. One misjudged contract has the potential to drag on for three more seasons.
For a regime that has promised sharper, more ruthless decision-making, Ugarte has become an early test of resolve.
Zirkzee stays – and fights
Ugarte was not the only name United explored moving on this summer. Joshua Zirkzee was also available, with the club open to offers for the Netherlands international forward.
He stayed. Unlike Ugarte, his situation feels far less toxic.
Michael Carrick, speaking to BBC Sport, made it clear he sees value in keeping Zirkzee around.
“For sure Josh is important, for the team, for the squad the depth,” the United manager said. “Josh is happy here and I have a really good relationship with Josh.
“He wants to play more than he has but that is good healthy competition. We have a lot of games coming up, we have a shorter period between games. Josh can do some really top things, I have seen it myself.”
Where Ugarte represents a contractual headache, Zirkzee offers possibility. A player who wants minutes, a coach who believes there is more to come, and a schedule packed enough to give him chances.
United’s new football structure was built to avoid being trapped by the past. The coming summers will show whether they can turn the Ugarte problem into a clean break, or whether this becomes the defining cautionary tale of the Ratcliffe era.
