Manchester Evening: Ugarte may seal his Man United fate this weekend

Ruben Amorim laid down the law to Manuel Ugarte last month when he told the Manchester United midfielder he had to improve in training to force his way back into his plans. 

A return of 13 minutes in five Premier League games since then would suggest the message hasn’t been taken on board.

Ugarte hasn’t even made it off the bench in four of those five games and it feels like his Old Trafford career is teetering on the brink amid plans for a major midfield rebuild. Perhaps this weekend will offer the Uruguayan a chance to resuscitate it. It could well be the final chance. With Casemiro suspended after collecting a fifth booking of the season, Ugarte seems like the only possible replacement in that holding midfield role.

If he is overlooked for Kobbie Mainoo, another player Amorim clearly has doubts about, it will surely spell the end for Ugarte. If he plays and doesn’t deliver, it could be just as damning. Last month, Amorim stressed that he wanted to help his former Sporting charge out of his funk, but what has happened since suggests that it hasn’t been achieved.

“You can sense a lot of very good players come here, and sometimes they struggle," he said. "He is struggling at the moment but it is our job to try to help and help him to feel like I felt when he was a Sporting player. But it is a different world. He needs to adapt, and he needs to improve, especially in training."

It was the second time Amorim had been brutal about Ugarte, telling him after the Europa League final that he wasn’t the same player that the head coach encountered in Lisbon. Their shared history together should have been a significant advantage to Ugarte. He knew Amorim’s 3-4-2-1 system, he had a head start when it came to the demands of the Portuguese and what he wanted from players in Ugarte’s position. But he hasn’t put it to good use.

Ugarte left Sporting to join Paris Saint-Germain and managed a year in Ligue 1 before United spent £50.5m on him. His confidence looks to have been rocked by a tricky year in Paris and the chaos of Old Trafford.

He wasn’t Erik ten Hag’s first choice for that position in the summer of 2024 and had a sluggish start to his time at the club. Amorim’s arrival led to a brief renaissance but there has been very little evidence across 18 months that Ugarte is going to cut the mustard.

An exit in January might be unlikely, especially if Mainoo leaves on loan, but a summer transfer is a possibility, especially if Ugarte doesn’t find the improvement required.

The future of every United midfielder is up in the air at the moment, for one reason or another. For Ugarte, the reason is his own performances, and what happens next is largely in his hands. He can take a step forward at Villa Park on Sunday, but if he doesn’t it could push him closer to the exit door.