Now or never for Manuel Ugarte to fill Man Utd and Amorim’s massive hole

A record spend was made by Premier League clubs this summer, yet many still have maddeningly-obvious holes in their squad.

Manchester United may or may not have filled the one in their goal with the signing of Senne Lammens. Since the vast majority of us know next to nothing of the young goalkeeper bought from Royal Antwerp, only time will tell. Just as likely as Lammens being the competent stopper United need is the prospect of him being eaten alive while jumping from comparative obscurity into the hardest position in football right now.

United moved at glacial pace to recruit in one of the positions that anyone with functioning eyes could see they had to. In the other, the Red Devils had a sniff and thought they can make do.

Apparently, United believe they have ‘strong and versatile’ options to play in Ruben Amorim’s midfield. We doubt the manager agrees with whoever watched United over the last year before reaching that conclusion.

There is not so much a hole in Amorim’s engine room as an asteroid-sized crater. One that could ultimately cost Amorim his job if European qualification really is a non-negotiable target this season.

If United and Amorim fall short, then the manager’s dogmatic belief in his one and only system looks likely to be the primary reason. And without a deep-lying midfielder who can destroy and dictate, Amorim is almost being set up to fail.

READ MORE: Why the five post-Fergie Man Utd managers before Amorim were sacked

That they were so keen on Carlos Baleba suggests there are important people at United who haven’t missed the bleeding obvious. Brighton’s valuation made United cower so far into submission that they appeared scared to consider the possibility that Baleba might not be the only No.6 on earth.

Already, with the window still shaking from being SLAMMED SHUT, there is talk of renewed interest in Baleba and other midfielders next summer. Have United missed their best opportunity to land Baleba? If he shows the form he’s widely thought to be capable of this season, Brighton will be looking for another record fee, by which time the £100million they wanted last month will seem cheap. And United might not have the free run they could have enjoyed this summer.

Regardless, Amorim cannot afford to think so far ahead. Right now, he appears to be living game-to-game, even if the United hierarchy are said to have no plans – yet – to rip up their latest plan. Though if he goes, it is just as likely that it won’t be the club’s decision.

With United’s forward line completely and expensively remodelled and a goalkeeper who isn’t Andre Onana or Altay Bayindir, Amorim’s overwhelming priority now is to make do and mend his midfield hole.

The chasm lies next to Bruno Fernandes. The captain’s suitability to a central midfield role is a debate for another time, but his more permanent shift into a deeper position makes it more imperative that any partner has legs.

Casemiro had legs for days; pins among the best in Europe. But those days have passed.

Amorim, probably correctly, says Kobbie Mainoo is an alternative to Fernandes, not a foil.

Which leaves one possible option: Manuel Ugarte.

Ugarte was bought last summer for this exact job. United sacrificed Scott McTominay to add some Uruguayan bite into Erik ten Hag’s midfield. A year on, Ten Hag has been sacked twice; McTominay is the King of Naples; and Ugarte looks further than ever from filling his brief.

We should make allowances for any midfielder coming into the hustle and bustle of the Premier League from Ligue 1 and, prior to that, the Portuguese league. Ugarte was 23 when United paid £42million up front to pluck him from PSG – perhaps their gratitude ought to have raised our suspicions – and there is a long list of stars who took time to adjust before ultimately thriving in Our League.

If United did not see their midfield as a priority this summer, increased expectations of Ugarte must have prompted that judgement. Which makes his start to the season all the more concerning.

Overlooked for Casemiro, Ugarte came off the bench midway through the second halves of the defeat to Arsenal and draw at Fulham. Not coincidentally just as whatever control United had gained in either game began to slip.

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He started in the Carabao Cup. Ugarte certainly wasn’t alone in stinking out Grimsby but he was one of three hooked at half-time while Amorim’s patience dangled by a thinning thread. Struggling to keep up with the pace in your first season in the Premier League is understandable. Being miles off it against League Two opposition is infinitely more damning.

So poor were those 91 combined minutes that hopes for Ugarte being the answer to Amorim’s problems are slimmer than ever. Which is even more peculiar when you consider that no United player should be more familiar with the manager’s expectations.

Ugarte thrived under Amorim as a Sporting player. His form through two seasons – 61 starts in 85 appearances – earned the midfielder his £50million move to PSG. When Amorim took over from Ten Hag, Ugarte was expected to gain more than most.

Instead, Ugarte is going under. Amorim hinted in pre-season at Ugarte’s struggles with confidence and ‘off the pitch’ matters that may be hampering his efforts to establish himself in United’s midfield. The manager wasn’t telling anyone what we had not already assumed from the sight of opponents running off the back of Ugarte and some questionable decision making on the ball.

It is hard not to have some sympathy for the player but it is also fair to pin this moment as pivotal in his United career. With only Premier League fixtures to sustain the Red Devils between now and the New Year, Ugarte must return from international duty reinvigorated to beg, borrow, steel some minutes to showcase that he can be the player United bought and the midfielder Amorim so desperately needs.

In many ways, Ugarte’s struggle is a symbol of the wider sentiment around United. The feeling most prominent in the manager’s mind, if not resignation, is hope rather than expectation. But if Ugarte is ever to emerge from whatever slump he has fallen in to, it has to happen now.