DEAL COMPLETED: Manchester United finally won the race over Liverpool in signing £60m superstar,fee agreed on a 5yr deal, announcement to be done tomorrow morning
DEAL COMPLETED: Manchester United finally won the race over Liverpool in signing £60m superstar,fee agreed on a 5yr deal, announcement to be done tomorrow morning
Manuel Ugarte seems the chosen one for Man Utd to reinforce their defensive midfield position. Casemiro has looked like a pale shadow of his former imperious self over the last 12 months and the Red Devils need an alternative.
Since moving to PSG last summer, Ugarte has failed to convince Luis Enrique and has been benched in favor of Vitinha. The Portuguese midfielder is exceptional at what he does and there is no room for the Uruguayan at Parc de Princes.
Last month, we covered a story by Le10Sport that Man Utd were planning to make an offer for AS Monaco midfielder Youssouf Fofana. The Red Devils were strongly positioned to lure the 25-year-old but a move hasn’t materialized.
As per Football Transfers, Man Utd could return for Fofana if they fail to reach an agreement for Ugarte. The French club are willing to sell him for an offer of around £29.5m and he would be a relatively low-cost alternative for the Red Devils.
Fofana brings immense physicality to the table. He might not be as good on the ball as Ugarte can be but his defensive acumen is much superior to the ex-Sporting CP midfielder. We are talking about two very different midfield profiles here.
Managers always tend to appreciate what Fofana brings to the table as evidenced by Didier Deschamps’ decision to call him up to almost every France squad. The manager loves bringing Fofana on to close out games that otherwise might turn out to be edgy.
The 25-year-old is also available for a very decent price but Man Utd must steer clear of his signature. Fofana is not technically gifted and is unlikely to be an upgrade on Casemiro. Ugarte must be the name that the club focuses on.
For all we know, this might just be a negotiation tactic from the Red Devils to pressurize PSG into deciding on Ugarte by floating Fofana’s name around. Regardless, all we can hope for is that Ugarte is a Red Devil next season.
