Manuel Ugarte stands out as Ineos’ biggest transfer mistake so far, but the latest bizarre claim about his move to Man Utd suddenly makes everything make sense.
For all of his own failures at Man Utd, Manuel Ugarte has also not been helped by the narrative that has aged since his transfer.
The player he effectively replaced, Scott McTominay, has gone from strength to strength for Napoli, while Ugarte’s stock has collapsed further.
The move doesn’t make sense at all now, but the latest claim that has emerged about the transfer which happened back in 2024 puts everything into place.
Manuel Ugarte and Leny Yoro make a tackle against Tottenham
Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images
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Manuel Ugarte playing against Fulham
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Bizarre Manuel Ugarte claim about his Man Utd transfer
To say that Ugarte’s move to Old Trafford was looked at with doubt by most would be lying, because there was genuine excitement.
The club had finally signed a young and athletic defensive midfielder who had played some of the best football of his career to earn a move to PSG.
However, it quickly became clear how limited he was as a player, and the intensity of the Premier League also exposed his supposed strength as somewhat of a weakness.
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The transfer makes no sense now, and as per Andy Mitten, United weren’t entirely keen on doing the deal, but they did so to grease the wheels for Leny Yoro.
The reason why it ultimately happened is to satisfy Jorge Mendes, Ugarte’s agent, who also had Leny Yoro on his books.
Mitten said [via The Talk of the Devils podcast]: “I think Ugarte was wrapped up in the Leny Yoro deal because they both share the same agent, Jorge Mendes.”
Laurie Whitwell supported the theory, adding, “Even him coming to the club, I think Andy’s right to touch on the context around with Leny Yoro. That deal [for Ugarte] was set up for quite a while.
“They were waiting for Scott McTominay to go. Erik ten Hag would not have made that trade.”
After reading the claim above, everything starts to make sense about how Ten Hag refused to give Ugarte consistent minutes and how Ruben Amorim called him out as well.
Man Utd must steer clear of shady package deals
Ugarte made sense at the time, but had Man Utd fans known that he’s basically been signed to grease the wheels for Yoro, eyebrows would have been raised.
What are your expectations for Leny Yoro’s Man Utd career?
Yoro graphic
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The whole thing hasn’t been helped by the fact that Ugarte has been exposed as not good enough for the club, so the deal has even more of a shady feel to it.
Furthermore, PSG used the money from Ugarte’s sale to buy Joao Neves, another Jorge Mendes client.
Essentially, Mendes finessed United to get three deals done with three different clubs (Yoro-Lille, Ugarte-Utd, Neves-PSG), and United ended up as the biggest losers in the whole thing.
The importance of agents will remain high, and United generally have had good relations with Mendes, but they need to draw a line at some point.
Having seen the Ugarte disaster unfold, this should be the line where United say no to shady package deals, even if it means losing out on players like Yoro in the process.
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