Which players will gain the most from the new manager’s arrival is frequently one of the first questions posed after the initial hoopla has subsided and the team has changed managers.
Fans and people in the club’s leadership will give a manager immediate credit if they can start to get a tune out of an expensive recruit who hasn’t proven themselves yet.
But “they played well under them before and so this time should be no different” is only one aspect of it. Consider the arrival of Erik ten Hag at United.
The Dutchman frequently targeted players who were from or had previously played in the Eredivisie because he was eager to surround himself with familiar comforts. However, he was unable to bring out the best in Donny van de Beek, a midfielder he had previously managed at Ajax, as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had done before him. After just eight league games in two years under Ten Hag, Van de Beek was sent to Girona.
It would be inaccurate to say that there was immediate optimism that Ruben Amorim could bring out the best in Manuel Ugarte when he was hired as United’s manager in November 2024. The two collaborated at Sporting Lisbon, and as Ugarte had only been at United for three months, opinions about the Uruguayan were still very much up in the air.
Nine months later, there is serious concern that Amorim won’t get to witness the 24-year-old midfielder at United at his peak.
On the day of the transfer deadline last summer, Ugarte was acquired by United for a figure that increased to £50.75 million. Although the Uruguayan international was brought in to take Casemiro’s place in United’s midfield, the player he was supposed to replace has started both of the team’s Premier League games this season.
During the preseason, the former Paris Saint-Germain player had signs of potential, most notably in a 2-1 victory over West Ham in New Jersey, where he was among the finest players on the field. He looked excellent coming off the bench against Bournemouth once more, but he had a major regression against Everton in the US tour’s last game, and he hasn’t been in the starting lineup since.
Even though Casemiro is 33 years old and still as good as he used to be, starting him in Premier League games is an admission of defeat.
Having Casemiro as one of your starting central midfielders when the bell rings at 7pm on September 1 is just not an option, as he will be 34 at the end of the 2025–26 season and has been on a downhill trajectory for over 18 months.
Amorim is responsible for making it work with Ugarte, but he obviously doesn’t think it will work if he believes Casemiro is a safer midfield option than the player he worked with at Sporting Lisbon.
There’s still time for deals to be done before the transfer window closes. Over to you, United.
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