Man Utd are signing a man to fill the doughnut; Ugarte is not a red Rodri

There’s a point when you should no longer get annoyed by tabloid website headlines, which should be roughly the same time you commit the wine/beer rhyme to memory, but ‘Manuel Ugarte can unshackle two current Man United stars and push them closer to the top of the Premier League – but whether he is the man to go toe-to-toe with Rodri remains to be seen’ has triggered feelings it should never have triggered.

I have no strong opinions about Manuel Ugarte and I am definitely no Manchester United fan, but this is the kind of lazy-arsed analysis that creates expectations far beyond what is reasonable.

Of course it ‘remains to be seen’ whether Ugarte can go toe-to-toe with Rodri; you are not comparing apples with apples. Or more accurately, you are comparing a green apple with a deep red apple. Ugarte is barely 23 and has played 37 games for a club in one of the five elite European leagues; Rodri is five years older and has played well over 300 games in Spain and England. He has basically won everything barring the World Cup. And you would not be surprised to see that ticked off in 2026.

Rodri is not only the best in the world in his position but absolutely should be a shoo-in for the Ballon d’Or. Unfortunately for him, football has a permanent hard-on for attacking players so Vinicius Jnr is favourite.

Even mentioning Rodri’s name in the same sentence as Ugarte’s is ludicrous. That’s not the standard against which the Uruguayan should be judged. It’s like saying it remains to be seen whether Dominic Solanke can replicate Erling Haaland’s goalscoring record after his record Tottenham transfer.

And nor should he be judged on ‘failure’ at PSG, which should be filed in the same bin as ‘failure’ at Chelsea. A club of Manchester United’s current standing – outside the Champions League and way short of a title challenge – can only really buy from two markets unless they want to vastly overpay: The ‘failures’ of more recently successful clubs and those untested at the very highest level. And ‘failing’ at PSG hardly counts as failure at all.

Those describing his style at PSG as ‘limited’ are ignoring the differences between the ambitions and limitations of the two teams. PSG dominate Ligue Un both in terms of points and money but also in literal possession: They averaged 65.7% across last season. Manchester United’s average possession barely clicked past 50%. United have ambitions to move that dial but one key component of that shift has to be a ball-winner.

Ugarte is not ‘limited’; he just does a very specific job. According to FBRef, he ranks in the 95th percentile across the top five leagues for pass completion and in the 98th for interceptions – which is as much about speed as intelligence – and the 99th for tackles. He is absolutely elite at these elements of football and Manchester United currently have no player who is elite in those three key elements.

While Casemiro has excellent tackle statistics, his passing is sloppy and his interception statistics have been effected by his lack of mobility; in almost every metric that defines a modern defensive midfielder, Ugarte ranks higher than the man he will eventually replace at Manchester United.

But that comparison is almost as unfair as any made with Rodri; of course Casemiro’s replacement should be better than Casemiro. What’s perhaps more telling is how favourably (very favourably) last season’s struggling Ugarte compared with last season’s struggling Moises Caicedo at Chelsea, who cost more than double what Ugarte will cost Manchester United.

Above all else, Ugarte will signal the end of Manchester United’s doughnut formation, a term born of the massive, gaping hole too often seen in the centre of their midfield last season. It was the most pressing issue of this summer’s transfer window, even beyond defensive cover and a second striker option, and Ugarte is a sensible signing for a sensible price.

What he cannot be is Manchester United’s version of Rodri. Nobody can. Right now they should be happy to have Manchester United’s version of Joao Palhinha because that’s exactly what they need.

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