Manchester United have a player who could be like a new signing this season

When Manchester United appointed Ruben Amorim as Erik ten Hag's successor last November, few players in the squad stood to benefit more than Manuel Ugarte.

The midfield enforcer, who had joined United from Paris Saint-Germain just over two months earlier, worked with Amorim at Sporting Lisbon, racking up 85 appearances under his stewardship during his time in the Portuguese capital.

Ugarte had arrived at Old Trafford from the Parc des Princes with the task of providing United's midfield with some much-needed defensive nous.

Despite an excellent debut season at United in 2022/23, Casemiro regressed the following season, making the addition of a defensive-minded midfielder a leading priority for the 2024 summer transfer window. United spent several weeks in negotiations with PSG and eventually signed Ugarte on deadline day last August.

After confirming Ugarte's arrival for an initial fee of £42.3million, former United sporting director Dan Ashworth said of the Uruguayan international: "Signing Manuel was another of our primary targets for this summer. He is among the very best ball-winning midfield players in the world and has an excellent record at both club and international level.

"His qualities, experience and passion will be a great complement to our strong group of midfielders."

The Manchester Evening News later revealed Ugarte was not Ten Hag's top target to strengthen his team's midfield options last summer. Instead, he was third on the Dutchman's wish list.

Evidence of that was on show in the latter stages of Ten Hag's tenure when he appeared reluctant to select the former Sporting midfielder. He played just seven times under the Dutchman prior to his exit on October 28, making just three starts, of which only