'When I win the ball, I'm happy' - who is Man Utd midfielder Ugarte?

Manuel Ugarte played for Uruguay at the 2024 Copa America

Manchester United have made Uruguay midfielder Manuel Ugarte their fifth signing of the summer transfer window.

Ugarte completed his move to Old Trafford on deadline day for an initial fee of £42.1m, with the potential for £8.4m in additional payments.

BBC Sport takes a closer look at the man set to follow new arrivals Leny Yoro, Joshua Zirkzee, Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui through the Old Trafford entrance.

'A young player with character'

Ugarte made 85 appearances for Sporting Lisbon before signing for Paris St-Germain

A defensive midfielder, Montevideo-born Ugarte spent his formative years as a striker for Uruguayan top-flight club Fenix, who handed him his league bow aged just 15 years and 233 days - making him the youngest Uruguayan league debutant in the 21st Century.

After being given the captain’s armband aged 18, it was not long before Ugarte’s displays caught the attention of Portuguese Primeira Liga club Famalicao, who signed him in December 2020. Eight months later, however, the then 20-year-old was snapped up by reigning champions Sporting Lisbon - initially as a back-up to Joao Palhinha, who would leave for Fulham in 2022.

It was in Lisbon where Ugarte started to show flashes of his true potential, establishing a reputation as an athletic, tough-tackling holding midfielder under Ruben Amorim and attracting the interest of both Chelsea and PSG, with the French club winning the race for his signature in 2023.

"Ugarte has been a revelation," PSG manager Luis Enrique said last year. "He is a great signing and a player with so much room for improvement going forward [and] in defence.

"He’s a young player with character, which is very important for us, and that continuity we need in our positional play."

Ugarte made 37 appearances for the French champions last season, including 25 in Ligue 1 and eight in the Champions League, where he started all but one of PSG's group games.

“They are signing a very tenacious midfielder, a young man who is going to be really determined having lost his way a little bit in the second half of last season at PSG," said France-based journalist Matt Spiro on BBC's Football Daily Podcast.

"If they’re getting the player we saw in the first weeks, first couple of months at PSG, he’s going to be absolutely tremendous."

Ugarte has also won 22 caps for Uruguay since making his international debut in September 2021. He was an unused substitute in their three group matches at the 2022 World Cup, but was named in this summer’s Copa America team of the tournament, helping Uruguay finish third behind Colombia and winners Argentina.

He is the fifth Uruguayan player to represent Manchester United, after Diego Forlan, Guillermo Varela, Edinson Cavani and Facundo Pellistri, who recently joined Panathinaikos.

Casemiro's successor?

Will Casemiro have to make way for Ugarte in Ten Hag's starting XI?

Given Manchester United’s vulnerability at the back last season - only relegated Sheffield United conceded more shots in the Premier League than Ten Hag’s team - the signing of Ugarte should come as no surprise.

"In terms of adapting to the Premier League, Ugarte's physicality and his ability to read the game and make tackles [mean] he could be a tremendous player," added Spiro.

He excelled in a 3-4-3 system while at Sporting but the vast majority of his displays at PSG came as the deepest player in a midfield three. At United, he is likely to be deployed in a double-pivot in a 4-2-3-1 - most probably alongside Kobbie Mainoo.

Casemiro has been the Red Devils’ go-to defensive midfielder under Ten Hag but endured a frustrating campaign last season - though he was by no means the only player to disappoint.

At PSG last season, Ugarte recorded the second-most tackles among midfielders in Europe’s top five leagues, averaging 4.56 per 90 minutes. He also registered 8.42 ball recoveries per game - the fourth-best tally by a midfielder in Europe’s top divisions - while only five midfielders won possession more often in the final third (1.35 times per 90 minutes).

"When I win the ball back, I’m happy," Ugarte said in an interview with PSG’s official website in 2023. "But as play goes on, I start hoping for a goal. I say to myself: 'I want it to be a goal.'"

By comparison, Casemiro managed only 3.76 tackles and 6.03 ball recoveries per game in the Premier League in 2023-24. The Brazilian also won fewer challenges on the ground (4.62 compared with 6.79 per 90 minutes) and lost the ball more often (13.6 compared with 8.56 times per game) than Ugarte.

If the Uruguayan can continue that impressive form in England, he could be just the player Manchester United have been crying out for.

A version of this article was initially published on 27 August 2024