David Ornstein reports that MUFC are "switching midfielder search away from Manuel Ugarte and onto other options." He sites that that €60m asking price from PSG is too high for United as they don't value the midfielder at such a price.
We know that United and Ugarte had agreed personal terms with the player seemingly happy to join MUFC. The Uruguayan also appeared to be United's top midfield target as while there were/are links to others, Manuel Ugarte was always at the top.
Ornstein also said that there's "no progress yet [with this deal], talks cooled and exploring other top targets for right deal." So while the deal isn't completely off, it looks unlikely unless Paris drop their asking price.
David Ornstein adds that "United are only willing to pay what they deem to be the correct fee for each transfer target."
I like this approach from INEOS but while Ornstein said that "negotiations will not be allowed to drag on until the end of the market", I must ask, why wait until a week before the Community Shield against Man City and just under two weeks until the Premier League starts to back out of a deal in which the price was probably going to remain at €60m?
Surely they would've known that PSG weren't going to budge on their asking price?
Unless the Parisians did inform United that at some point, perhaps they will lower this price or come to some agreement with MUFC, like when they get a new midfielder of their own such as Joao Felix. Perhaps this is why MUFC remained in the hunt for Ugarte for so long as they could've unknowingly been led down a blind alley?
Whatever the case is, the fact that it looks like we aren't going to bring in a midfielder we desperately wanted and needed is a big miss. The ramifications of this could be massive.
I do agree with United though, that while this does suck, that price was much too high for a player that has only been in Paris for a year, hardly played and cost them 60m. This amount for United is ridiculous.
But will it mean that we will keep players that should be sold? Who will we look to bring in? When will we bring them in?
Will Erik ten Hag be happy with another midfielder given that it looked like he and the board were all in agreement that Ugarte was their number one choice?
Background Image: Manuel Ugarte | Image credit: Getty Images via Goal