Breaking: Manchester United target arrives Carrington last night, puts pen to paper
According to Manchester Evening News, Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Manuel Ugarte is poised to become Manchester United’s fifth major signing of the summer. The Uruguay international arrived at Carrington late last night in preparation for his £51 million transfer.
The Sun shared a photo of Ugarte and his representatives at the training ground, with a medical examination scheduled for this morning.
Manchester United has already secured forward Joshua Zirkzee and defenders Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt, and Noussair Mazraoui for a combined £155 million this summer. Ugarte’s move will include an additional £8.5 million in potential add-ons, depending on certain conditions being met.
Eager to make a mark after a disappointing single season with PSG, Ugarte joins United amid their mixed start to the Premier League season. They suffered a 2-1 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion in their second game, having previously secured a 1-0 win over Fulham. With a home match against Liverpool on Sunday, manager Erik ten Hag might consider including Ugarte in the starting lineup.
Manchester United has partially funded Ugarte’s transfer through the sale of Scott McTominay to Napoli. The Scotland international’s £25 million move represents a pure profit for United, as McTominay is a product of their academy.
The club is also close to finalizing their fifth summer signing and may add another player before the transfer window closes on Friday night. Raheem Sterling of Chelsea is a potential target in a swap deal that could see Jadon Sancho move in the opposite direction.
Reports suggest that United’s sporting director, Dan Ashworth, is keen on acquiring Sterling. The 29-year-old is reportedly interested in the move, and discussions between the two clubs have taken place. Sterling’s addition could strengthen United’s attacking options.
There are four particularly bad player contracts Man United have negotiated and the circumstances behind the last highlight how amateurish the club used to be.
United have finalised several ill-advised contracts
United have finalised several ill-advised contracts
There is an outside chance Victor Lindelof will be on the books when it is his eighth anniversary at Manchester United next June. It is unlikely to be marked by any of their social media accounts.
Lindelof has hardly trained since he returned for pre-season and only played two halves during the tour of the United States. With deadline day on Friday, United are almost certain to be left saddled with an injury-prone 30-year-old they could have released in June.
United predictably extended Lindelof’s contract to 2025 in December. Lindelof was out injured at the time and he would miss 21 of United’s 52 fixtures last term.
The development, coming days after Sir Jim Ratcliffe agreed his minority stake, was taken to protect Lindelof’s resale value. Instead, Lindelof’s value has headed in the opposite direction.
He is almost as rarely available as Luke Shaw and is arguably United’s sixth-choice centre back if all are simultaneously available. Little wonder figures at the club are suggesting Lindelof could provide cover at left back, as if to give the Swede a purpose.
United have negotiated more than £100million from sales this summer (including add-ons), a drastic shift from the old regime that resolved to tie down sellable players on new contracts.
They have not always caved in. United passed on triggering one-year options for Antonio Valencia, James Wilson, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, Sergio Romero, Joel Pereira, Phil Jones, David de Gea, Brandon Williams, Raphael Varane and Anthony Martial.
None had any resale value. Lindelof did at the start of the summer yet his “niggle” and “precautionary” substitution against Liverpool in South Carolina have preceded a toe injury that has prevented him from kicking a ball for nearly four weeks. He was not visible in this week’s training imagery and footage.
United could not have forecast Lindelof’s poor fitness but his lingering presence warrants a discussion over a more potentially ruthless approach to extensions. Harry Maguire cannot be as certain his contract will be lengthened to 2026.
Amad, 22, and now an integral squad member, can unless he is tied down on fresh terms. New contracts for Amad and the 19-year-old Kobbie Mainoo are probable after the transfer window closes.
The first transfer window of the Ed Woodward era-error had only just closed in 2013 when United negotiated an inexplicable and incongruous five-year renewal with Nani. He played 13 more times for the club and was sold to Fenerbahce for £4.3million in 2015.
“What the f**k was I thinking?”
“What the f**k was I thinking?”
United have been the club where anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Nani ought to have been the nadir for new contracts yet United lowered the bar with Marcos Rojo in 2018 and Phil Jones in 2019.
Rojo played 17 games in three years after he agreed improved terms in March 2018. United tried to sell him in four of the five summers he spent at the club. He was injured during the one they didn’t.
Following a four-and-a-half-year contract agreed when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was the caretaker manager in February 2019, Jones appeared in 21 United games over four-and-a-half years. His contract news is the last time a press release has been distributed at Carrington, a piece of history unlikely to ever appear in the Old Trafford museum.
Lindelof has been a better defender for United than Rojo and Jones but the circumstances behind his contract in September 2019 make it possibly the worst United have finalised. His agent, Hasan Cetinkaya, publicly claimed Lindelof was Barcelona’s go-to target after Matthijs de Ligt had opted to move to Juventus. Two months later, Lindelof and Cetinkaya were arm-in-arm in the Carrington press room, celebrating a salary hike.
Hasan Cetinkaya and Lindelof manage to stop themselves from bursting out laughing
Hasan Cetinkaya and Lindelof manage to stop themselves from bursting out laughing
At the time, Lindelof was not halfway through what was effectively a five-year deal. He actually rebuked his agent for telling El Mundo Deportivo, a Catalan newspaper, a “big club” had touched base at a press conference in Perth that pre-season.
The Barcelona ‘interest’ was utterly unbelievable. Only Matt Judge, in charge of negotiating United players’ contacts, believed it. What was particularly perplexing was United had gathered credible intel on the financial mire Barcelona were in.
Lindelof was possibly United’s standout player in the 2018-19 season, one of the few to perform during Jose Mourinho’s final months. The flip-side is United had a one-year option to tie Lindelof to the club until 2022 and should have seen through Cetinkaya‘s ruse.
Judge (left) left United two years ago
Judge (left) left United two years ago
Lindelof had played and performed consistently for five, maybe six, months. He was also prominent in United’s worst defensive top-flight season in 40 years when they shipped 54 goals in 38 games.
Yesteryear, eight years of service at United were earned. Martial was a year shy of being eligible for a testimonial and is recent proof that is no longer the case. He was still serenaded on his farewell to Old Trafford (whilst injured).
Lindelof has been a more diligent and committed professional at United but his £120,000 weekly salary stands to cost the club £6.24m until he is released next year. It is a measure of Lindelof’s standing he has never gained a chant on the terraces, just a moniker from the club’s social media team.
And even they are unlikely to remember his anniversary.
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