Manchester United's deadline-day signing is not doing what Dan Ashworth wanted

Manchester United exercised patience to sign Manuel Ugarte from Paris Saint-Germain this summer.

United were reluctant to match PSG's initial asking price of a €60million (£50.6m) fixed fee and finally signed Ugarte for €50million (£42.3m), with €10m (£8.5m) in add-ons. The deal was complete on transfer deadline day but it never seemed in danger of collapsing, as the player was desperate to join United and the sale was within PSG's interest.

United believed the deal showed their patient approach to negotiations had worked and a source said they felt they had 'significantly strengthened their squad', but Ugarte has been in Manchester for over a month and he's made just one start in the Premier League.

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Ugarte was considered a mobile No.6 and was expected to protect the defensive line by intercepting and recovering balls, something Casemiro did brilliantly during 2022/23. However, he has failed to hit the ground running and was an unused substitute against Aston Villa before the international break, with Casemiro selected to come on instead.

Casemiro also started in the 3-3 draw against FC Porto in the Europa League, which represented his first start - excluding in the Carabao Cup against Barnsley - since his disastrous performance against Liverpool and Ugarte was an unused substitute again in Portugal.

Ugarte was hooked at half-time in his only league start, in the 3-0 defeat to Tottenham when he looked overwhelmed by the pace of the contest. The 23-year-old was not registered in time to play Liverpool, as that fixture was played a day after he signed, which delayed his integration