Manchester United remain in negotiations to sign one of their top summer targets, according to Sky Sport Germany journalist Florian Plettenberg.
The Red Devils are keen on signing a new midfielder in the current transfer window. Paris Saint-Germain’s Manuel Ugarte seems to be the priority target.
The Athletic’s David Ornstein recently claimed that United has switched away from Ugarte because they can’t afford the £51 million asking price.
However, Plettenberg reports that the Red Devils are still locked in discussions with the French champions for Ugarte, who ‘wants to join’ the club.
United are also exploring other options, but super-agent Jorge Mendes wants to make the deal happen.
Ugarte would be United’s ideal midfield signing
The Uruguay international joined PSG from Sporting CP last summer. He had a frustrating debut campaign with only 27 starts in all competitions.
Ugarte was an unused substitute on 14 occasions as manager Luis Enrique preferred Fabian Ruiz, Warren Zaire-Emery and Vitinha over him.
Despite this, the 23-year-old had a solid campaign. He had a passing accuracy of 91 percent and an average of 6.4 duels and 3.9 tackles won per appearance in Ligue 1.
The midfielder also made 7.2 recoveries on average for the Parisian giants.
United are considering alternatives such as Youssouf Fofana this month, but Ugarte is clearly the ideal option for them with his strong passing attributes.
Fofana is also a good defensive midfielder, but he completed only 82 percent of his passes last term. He lost possession 14 times per game.
By contrast, Ugarte was dispossessed only 7.4 times per league outing.
United need to find a quick solution to sign Ugarte. With Joao Neves’ arrival at Les Parisiens, they should be optimistic about securing a discount to buy the ‘tireless‘ star.
Stats from Sofascore.com & Transfermarkt.com.
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