New Man Utd signing Ugarte plays by two-word motto and can help Ten Hag win ugly

ERIK TEN HAG may have slept a little better on Sunday night than most would have suspected.

True enough, the hounding his side were subjected to by Liverpool earlier on would have disturbed him, although he did not admit as much.

But by the time he went to bed he knew chief executive Omar Berrada and sporting director Dan Ashworth had given him a resounding vote of confidence — albeit before that 3-0 thrashing by Arne Slot’s slick side.

And what is likely to have made him more relaxed is that, in Manuel Ugarte, he knew he finally had a proper dog of war.

If ever a manager, a squad full of wimps and indeed an entire disillusioned fanbase, needed one it is Manchester United.

Ugarte arrives from French side Paris Saint-German vowing to show “garra charrua”, his country’s proud trait of fighting with everything they have no matter what.

The characteristic, Ugarte says, is in every Uruguayan’s blood.

The 23-year-old once described football as a “game when we have the ball and we fight when we don’t.”

Yesterday, he added: "That was a totally genuine comment, because I was describing my style of play and that phrase just came out naturally.

"It does sum me up, because it's something I feel very comfortable doing when it comes to winning the ball back and now I'm looking forward to doing it right here.

Winning the ball has always just been his way of showing it.

Just as important to a side that keep darting around like red arrows with no real target, he wants to carry another load  — the kind legends Bryan Robson and Roy Keane always put on their backs.

The kind so many of United’s players over the last decade of decline have been too weak, or too intimidated, to accept.

Yet the £42.3million arrival said: "Without a doubt being at a club like United comes with a responsibility and that is to win trophies.

"I’m still young and I’m really keen to learn. I have a huge desire to win and this club is the ideal place for both those things.

"This club is so huge there is an added responsibility, you have to take that seriously while enjoying it at the same time."

Ugarte’s words will be music to Ten Hag’s ears and a following who have heard promise after promise delivered by new signings and by plenty already there, only for the load to be dumped amid more failure.

Now there would appear to be a true leader within the Theatre of Dreams — and not before time.

Talking the talk is one thing, of course, but Ugarte knows he can walk the walk in his role at least, having been PSG’s best ball-winner last season.

Stats also show he had the second-best tackles per 90 minutes across Europe’s top five leagues last season.

During two years working with him at Uruguayan top- flight side Fenix, coach Juan Ramon Carrasco marvelled at his hunger to hunt down the ball all over the pitch using “seven lungs”.

Ten Hag’s fifth major signing of the summer  insists that he could not be happier — even if he will already know that is expected of him.

He has been watching United this season on TV while waiting for the move he calls “a dream”.

So he must be perfectly aware of the gaping hole he has to fill — not just physically as a warrior midfielder but emotionally too.

Casemiro, 32, was supposed to do that but Slot’s stars provided further evidence that the man United paid £60m for is a shadow of his days as a five-time Champions League winner.

Kobbie Mainoo, his holding partner, showed the strain of being a 19-year-old and trying to keep doing a man’s job.

Ugarte, paraded before Sunday’s dismal home loss, relishes the challenge.

He added: "I’m really thrilled and more than anything eager. While I obviously realise that it’s a great responsibility I’m prepared for that.

"I'm really excited. I’ve never seen anything like it before, these United fans, because since the news first came out they have been sending me messages.

"I’ve seen them everywhere! It also made the news in Uruguay.

"So the supporters, the real fans, the die-hard United fans deserve the club to be winning trophies and that’s what we’re hoping to achieve.

"What I saw, or what struck me the most, was how the fans just sing and cheer throughout the entire game.

"They cheer and applaud everything — every single tackle, everything.

"That’s something that I’m really enthusiastic about, because it is also part of my game and I feel  that there’s going to be a really good connection with this league."

Ugarte, who follows in the Old Trafford footsteps of fellow countrymen  Diego Forlan, Guillermo Varela, Facundo Pellistri and Edinson Cavani, stresses that despite Ten Hag’s concerns that he has not played a minute this season he is good to go.

First there will be internationals against Paraguay and Venezuela before the first chance he will get of making his United debut — away  at struggling Southampton after the break.

He does not seem fazed in the least about going in cold for his new club, having been frozen out in France.

That will warm the hearts of United fans desperate to see some Red Devil in their team.

And for now, at least, Ten Hag can sleep peacefully  knowing that he has signed a player, who in his position at least, truly is the real deal.