Manuel Ugarte admitted he didn’t enjoy being asked to play as an emergency central defender during Uruguay’s defeat against Peru.
The £51 million summer signing from Paris Saint-Germain has made an underwhelming start to his Man United career.
In fairness, the combative midfielder was hardly helped by his transfer dragging on to the very end of the summer window before being thrust into a side struggling for form.
Ugarte looked all at sea in the recent 3-0 hammering the Red Devils suffered at the hands of Tottenham, but consecutive draws against Porto and Aston Villa appear to have earned under-fire United manager Erik ten Hag a reprieve.
Any hopes that a return to more familiar climes would trigger a return to form for Ugarte, however, proved unfounded earlier this week when he was pressed into an unfamiliar role by Marcelo Bielsa.
Asked to play as part of a three-man defence, the 23-year-old failed to adapt to the demands of a new position and confessed afterwards he ‘lacked certain things as a defender’.
‘It was not a good match,’ he told ESPN. ‘We did not play well, it was a shame because I still believe that we are much better, but the match was ugly for us. The dressing room was strong before the match, the atmosphere was nice, but little by little we faded and we did not show good things in the match.
‘Everyone can play and has the conditions to do so, but many times, when changing players it takes a little [time] to adapt. It is not an excuse either, the team’s performance dropped. We need to go deeper, as we saw against Peru, we have to keep working.
‘Honestly, I felt good with the ball, but I lack certain things as a defender. These are things that always enrich a player.’
Regardless of which position Ugarte is deployed in for his club, meanwhile, Dutch legend Marco van Basten fears United have wasted their money.
Now also that last one, Ugarte, who cost £50 million, you think, ‘how do you even think about paying so much money for that?’ That is really bizarre,’ Van Basten said on Ziggo Sport’s ‘Rondo’ show.
hen it was suggested that Van Basten might not know Ugarte that well having only watched him in two games for United, the former Ajax and AC Milan striker replied: ‘No, but I could already see in that match that he’s not even worth a quarter of that amount.’
Van Basten went on to add: ‘It’s true that the big clubs, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City, Arsenal, they get the better ones and he always comes with second-rate players. That team has not got better.
‘He remains a good trainer but if you see the purchasing policy and those boys which were then bought for 700 million, I don’t see any return on that, they’re still poorly organised.
‘There is no star walking around who organises it, who leads, none.
‘A few years ago Marcus Rashford was a great player, he can’t do anything about this any more, it’s unbelievable. It’s strange for that a boy who was a world star years ago.’
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