To say that Manuel Ugarte has had a rollercoaster of a debut season at Manchester United would be an understatement, and the Uruguayan has now made a telling confession after it all.
A season that started with much hope for Manuel Ugarte quickly turned into a nightmare as Erik ten Hag just refused to trust him consistently.
Ruud van Nistelrooy’s interim spell gave some hope and Ruben Amorim’s hiring charged it, but he ended the season on the bench for the biggest game of the campaign, the Europa League final.
Amidst it all, Ugarte has claimed that what he experienced at United this season is unlike anything he’s ever ‘lived’ at any other club in his career.
Manuel Ugarte of Manchester United walks off the pitch after the Premier League match between Manchester United FC and Ipswich Town FC
Photo by Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images
Manuel Ugarte makes Man Utd admission
The list of players who struggled at Old Trafford only to leave the club and find a new lease of life is concerningly long from the club’s perspective.
It is an aspect that has been touched upon by many experts and pundits, saying that the pressure of playing for United is not comparable to any other club.
However, Ugarte had a leg up this season after Ruben Amorim, the manager under whom he broke through in Europe with Sporting, was hired as Man Utd manager.
Still, the fact that he was completely out of the team and rated as United’s weakest 2024/25 signing summed up how tall an order it was for him to establish himself.
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Speaking to respected fan journalist Andy Mitten for United We Stand magazine, Ugarte has now confessed that the pressure of playing for United is unlike anything he’s ever ‘lived’ at any other club.
He said: “I’ve never lived something like at United [in terms of media scrutiny]. Not even in Paris. In Paris, it’s different. Here in United and the Premier League, but especially United, there’s an exhibition at a global level.
“People talk and talk and talk and it is very difficult to get away from all that because you see it everywhere. It’s always about United.
“I just focus on what happens in my day-to-day and on what I can improve. You need balance. When you’re doing well, you’re not the best in the world. When you’re doing badly, you’re not the worst in the world. It’s very important that a player understands that.”
Manuel Ugarte will be on a short leash next season
It can be argued that it took Ugarte almost three months to even get into the team consistently because Ten Hag didn’t trust him much.
From that perspective, the fact that he ended the season looking average is a bonus because the way it started, it was trending towards disaster.
However, like many of his teammates in the Man Utd squad, along with Amorim, he will be on a short leash next season.
With all due respect to Casemiro, something will have gone very wrong if the Brazilian stayed at Old Trafford and remained as important to the team as he was at the business end of the 2024/25 season.
That is as much an indictment of Ugarte as it is an endorsement of Casemiro’s abilities and professionalism.
The Uruguayan will need to come flying out of the blocks next season and make that deeper midfield spot his own, turning into an untouchable that Paul Scholes once claimed he was on his way to doing.
The scrutiny that he’s never experienced anywhere else is not going anywhere, but Man Utd fans will hope that having lived under it for one season, it makes him better equipped to deal with it.