Every cloud, as they say, has a silver lining. Even when that cloud represents a situation in which sees Manchester United miss out on one of their leading targets during a summer impacted heavily by Financial Fair Play concerns.
As Fabrizio Romano explains to the United Stand, the Red Devils are in no position to step up their interest in Benfica’s Joao Neves. Not before a fleet of departures and a substantial easing of the club’s monetary migraine.
“The real issue for Manchester United is FFP, which makes it difficult to spend 120 million euros on Joao Neves, a player they admire and have been scouting for months,” Romano says.
“PSG recently made concrete moves to sign him.”
Benfica, as they did when Chelsea and Liverpool came calling for Enzo Fernandez and Darwin Nunez, have adopted a hardline stance on Neves. Either his £104 million release clause is triggered, or the 19-year-old is going nowhere.
Paris Saint-Germain may, however, have an ace up their sleeve. According to Sport, the French champions are willing to offer Carlos Soler and Portugal international Renato Sanches in an attempt to drive down Neves’ price-tag.
Whatever happens, it is difficult to shake the feeling that – like with Michael Olise’s impending switch to Bayern Munich – Man United are a club stuck in the mud until those FFP fears can be dealt with.
Manchester United eye PSG ace Manuel Ugarte
But it’s not all bad news. Out of misery comes opportunity.
Neves’ potential arrival at the Parc des Princes would cast further down on the future of one Manuel Ugarte. And while the Neves door closes, the window to Ugarte has just opened up.
Sky Sports broke the news on Tuesday, reporting Man United’s interest in the tough-tackling Uruguayan. L’Equipe have since reported that Erik ten Hag’s side have submitted an opening offer, albeit one that fell short of PSG’s demands.
Les Parisiens’ paid £51 million to sign Ugarte from Sporting Lisbon in 2023, and will hope to recoup as much of that as possiboe.
Perhaps PSG would be willing to let Ugarte leave on an initial loan deal, with an obligation-to-buy clause in his contract that would allow United time to get their house in order and the funds in place for a full-time deal later down the line.
Casemiro’s replacement?
It is no secret that Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the man now pulling the strings at Old Trafford, was left baffled by the decision to bring in an ageing Casemiro on a four-year contract (The Guardian). A deal that looked increasingly shirt-sighted as the once-brilliant Brazilian fell off a proverbial cliff during a largely dreadful second season in England.
Still only 23 and with his best years ahead of him rather than behind him, Ugarte feels like exactly the sort of signing Ratcliffe was pointing out when he spoke out about United’s need to bring in not fading big-names but future superstars.
Ugarte may already have one big move under his belt – he started only 21 Ligue 1 games as he struggled to settle in France – but with so many years ahead of him there is plenty of time to get things moving in the right direction again.