Man Utd midfielder Manuel Ugarte has disappointed since he signed for the club from Paris Saint-Germain.
Ugarte should be offloaded this summer.(Image: 2026 Sebastian Frej)
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"I miss the sunshine," joked Manuel Ugarte in a recent interview in his homeland. Manchester United will be happy to facilitate Ugarte's desire to move to a warmer climate this summer.
There is no need to beat around the bush with the midfielder, who has been a major disappointment since arriving from Paris Saint-Germain two years ago for £42.3m, with a further £8.5m in add-ons.
United were reluctant to match PSG's initial asking price of a £50.6m fixed fee and believed their patient approach to the negotiations worked. With the benefit of hindsight, Ugarte wasn't worth the wait in that transfer window.
The majority of Ugarte's best performances in his debut season came against lower-league opposition in cup competitions, which should have set alarm bells ringing, but players from abroad should always be given a season to settle into their new environment and adapt.
With a year in England under his belt, Ugarte was expected to improve this season, but he has regressed, playing just over 900 minutes across all competitions, so it's time for United to cut their losses.
It was the beginning of the end for Ugarte when he didn't benefit from Ruben Amorim's appointment. He had played his best football under Amorim at Sporting Lisbon, but the rekindling of that relationship did not spark improvement.
In August, Ugarte could have done better for Grimsby Town's opening goal in the Carabao Cup debacle. There were multiple stages at which the goal could have been prevented, but Ugarte failed to react quickly to losing possession of the ball at the beginning of the move.
In November, Ugarte allowed Tottenham forward Wilson Odobert to burst towards the penalty area and Matthijs de Ligt was turned in the box by Mathys Tel. The fingers were pointed at De Ligt, but Ugarte was far too weak, allowing Odobert to breeze beyond him, despite the United man being positioned ahead of him.
There has been a recurring theme this season whenever Ugarte has played - United have looked worse. That helps to explain why he has not started since Michael Carrick was appointed.
Ugarte has never looked comfortable with the pace of the Premier League and distributing the ball effectively is not a strength of his, a trait which has become increasingly important for deep-lying midfielders.
The 24-year-old needs a move away to breathe new life into his career and should be on the move this summer. Whether there is a market for Ugarte in Europe is another matter. He has a few big clubs on his CV, so there should be interest, but the jury is out on how much United could get for him.
"I like Manu a lot," Carrick insisted in February. "He's been terrific around the group and I'm hugely impressed with his attitude and how he goes about it and his training qualities. He has a lot of really good attributes.
"When the team is winning, there's obviously a big upside to that. And there's always, for the one or two boys that maybe haven't played so much, obviously it makes it a little bit tougher to get in the team, but I think that creates that competition as well, in a real healthy way, that everyone's pushing each other.
"Manu's obviously desperate to get on the pitch more and he's doing everything he can in training and he is a big part of the group, so I think it's just a case of the results and the boys playing so well."
It was a textbook managerial response about a player who is not playing, but Carrick will know that Ugarte needs to be offloaded this summer. Joshua Zirkzee could follow him through the door, although his situation is different.
Zirkzee has shown enough to be a solid squad player for United. There will be significantly more matches in the schedule next season and the Dutchman would be valuable, but he's expected to push for an exit for starts.
Most United fans would like Zirkzee to stay and contribute next season, while you would struggle to find a supporter who wants Ugarte to stick around.