Ten Hag ‘priority’ to accelerate ‘integration’ of Man Utd player ‘not bought for instant impact’

Erik ten Hag plans to accelerate the ‘integration’ of Manuel Ugarte into the Manchester United team amid ‘increasing pressure’.

Ugarte was signed by United from PSG for an initial £42m in the summer as Ten Hag was desperate to land a suitable partner to Kobbie Mainoo after the steep drop off in Casemiro’s displays last season.

The Uruguay international has been a bit-part player thus far with Christian Eriksen often preferred at the heart of the Red Devils midfield, and Ugarte’s three starts – against FC Trent, Barnsley and Tottenham – have been underwhelming.

GIVEMESPORT now claim though that one of Ten Hag’s ‘priorities is to fully integrate the midfielder into the first-team picture’.

It’s claimed Ten Hag insisted upon Ugarte’s arrival that he would ‘need time to settle at Old Trafford’ and that he ‘wasn’t brought to the club to make an instant impact’.

But with just two Premier League wins from seven games and Ten Hag fighting to keep his job, needs must.

Ten Hag is ‘under increased pressure to utilise him’ in the coming games when he would have preferred to hand him the odd appearance here and there had things been going better for the Red Devils boss.

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Ugarte has played no part in their last two games against Porto and Aston Villa after a particularly disappointing display against Tottenham, but did play the full 90 minutes for Uruguay in their 1-0 defeat to Peru, as a centre-back.

But the 23-year-old was eager to point to his own deficiencies in that position after the game, presumably with a view to stopping Ten Hag seeing him as a solution to United’s defensive woes.

“I lack certain things as a defender”, Ugarte said.

“It was not a good match. We did not play well, it was a shame because I still believe that we are much better, but the match was ugly for us.

“The dressing room was strong before the match, the atmosphere was nice, but little by little we faded and we did not show good things in the match.

“Everyone can play and has the conditions to do so, but many times, when changing players it takes a little [time] to adapt. It is not an excuse either, the team’s performance dropped. We need to go deeper, as we saw against Peru, we have to keep working.

“Honestly, I felt good with the ball, but I lack certain things as a defender. These are things that always enrich a player and we will see what happens on Tuesday.”