Manchester United’s midfield hunt has led to Manuel Ugarte from PSG, but a first bid was £25m adrift of the asking price.
Midfield is becoming an annoying position this summer for Manchester United with little joy in the bid to sign Kobbie Mainoo a partner this summer.
Joao Neves was seemingly the first choice as Ineos bid for him a few weeks ago only to be told £85 million was the amount needed to bring Benfica to the negotiating table.
Clearly, this is more than United can afford this summer and therefore alternatives are now being sought after with Manuel Ugarte being circulated as an option earlier this week.
Interest advanced fairly quickly with a bid even being submitted on Tuesday, but now the details of that bid have been revealed and it’s little surprise it was rejected.
How much Manchester United’s Ugarte bid was worth
For United, a midfielder is probably the most important position, considering it was where the biggest issues came during the 2023/24 season.
Now though, it seems attention is firmly locked on Uruguayan destroyer Ugarte who’d be an impressive signing to partner Mainoo in midfield.
Speaking on the MUFCMPB YouTube channel, journalist Ben Jacobs has now revealed how much the rumoured bid for the PSG midfielder was worth.
According to Jacobs, PSG sources have revealed United submitted a bid worth just £25m for Ugarte. This figure equals just 50 per cent of the asking price of £50m that PSG want to receive for the player they spent £51m on last summer.
With such a lowball offer, it’s hardly surprising that PSG said no. But it might not be over just yet as United could easily offer more and likely sent the initial bid to gauge PSG’s stance.
Ugarte is the ideal defensive midfielder for Erik ten Hag
For Erik ten Hag, the midfield last season was lacking a destroyer. A player to break up play and win balls back while providing security.
This is exactly what Ugarte would offer the Dutchman, with the 23-year-old being a classic defensive midfielder who will happily do the dirty work and allow Mainoo and Bruno Fernandes to enjoy more freedom than last season when there really wasn’t a designated defensive midfielder.
This was the issue which led to the countless instances of United having a 20-metre hole between midfield and defence, thus being incredibly easy to counterattack again, which is why Andre Onana had to make the fourth most saves in the entire league.