Learn more

There was one line in particular that stood out when sporting director Dan Ashworth announced Manchester United’s fifth and final first-team signing of the summer transfer window. Manuel Ugarte, Ashworth says, ‘is among the very best ball-winning midfield players in the world’. A tigerish, tenacious, tough-tackling operator – possessing that so-called ‘Garra’ spirit that characterises the best Uruguayan footballers – Ugarte feels like a potentially load-bearing pillar in Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United house. Given the nature of the Red Devils’ struggles last season, a destructive black hole …

cuu