Manuel Ugarte and three more new midfield options for Manchester United

The midfield remains a dilemma for Manchester United at Southampton this weekend. Manuel Ugarte played for Uruguay in Maturín, on Tuesday night and he will not train with his new club mates until Thursday.

United's kick-off for the second away game running south of the M25 is an unhelpful 12.30pm on Saturday. In March, Lisandro Martinez was questionably allowed to travel to Los Angeles to join the Argentina squad even though he was not fit enough to play. He returned to England, came on in the siege at Brentford and got injured again three days later.

There are two risks with Ugarte: his fitness and United's form. Their midfield is in such a state they possibly cannot do without him at St Mary's, even though Ugarte will have had a maximum of three team training sessions within two weeks.

Especially as the alternative is Casemiro, in decline and not in-demand by Saudi or Turkish clubs. Casemiro's replacement against Liverpool, Toby Collyer, has not started a professional game.

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Christian Eriksen is not a credible contender as Kobbie Mainoo has suffered alongside him in their six starts together. United won two and Ten Hag has not started the pair since the 4-0 shellacking at Crystal Palace in May.

Ten Hag failed to settle on a solution in midfield last season until he dropped Casemiro for the FA Cup final, preferring to stick with Sofyan Amrabat. Amrabat is now at Fenerbahce.

With United light in midfield and their reserves both turning 33 in February, here are some conventional and unconventional solutions for Ten Hag:

Once the Uruguayan is declared sufficiently fit, he will be Mainoo's main partner.