WHENEVER MANUEL Ugarte comes on for Manchester United, their religious supporters could be forgiven for praying.
United used to sell pet collars in the Old Trafford Megastore and sales for Ugarte-themed rosaries could hit the roof.
They have conceded 24 goals when Ugarte has been on the pitch this season. He has started nine games and United have won one.
Ugarte emerged with United 1-0 up against Fulham, Tottenham and West Ham. All three games ended in draws.
On Sunday, United had a two-goal cushion in the reverse fixture with Fulham, on came Ugarte and Fulham scored twice.
United lost at Grimsby, Manchester City, Brentford and Aston Villa in Ugarte’s first four starts of the season within a four-month period.
Ugarte is such a liability he is partially fuelling the popularity of Casemiro, whose career revival at United last year was sparked by injury to the Uruguayan.
United have sieved ten goals after Casemiro has come off the pitch this term and there were two more against Fulham.
However often Casemiro is booked (which usually leads to his substitution) or fails to complete 90 minutes, he is the ideal partner for Kobbie Mainoo.
Mainoo has always revelled in playing with Casemiro. He scored on his first two starts alongside the Brazilian two years ago.
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After United’s 3-2 victory over Fulham, Mainoo posted a picture of him with Casemiro with the caption, “Playing for keeps”.
United will not be keeping Casemiro but have to be keeping Mainoo now he is a first-teamer again.
Michael Carrick is also bound to be an impeccable judge of midfielders. Curiously, Carrick and Casemiro never played against each other.
The closest they got was in a 2017 pre-season friendly in Santa Clara. When Carrick was substituted at half-time, Casemiro came on, so they passed like ships in the night.
Casemiro can still steady the ship. Switching to a back four, starting Mainoo and pairing him with Casemiro were open goals for Carrick. Casemiro has been the man of the match in his two home wins in charge.
There was never any danger of Casemiro’s departure announcement compromising his performance level.
His peaks and troughs at United have been steep but Casemiro’s commitment has never wavered. Unlike the feckless Angel di Maria, Casemiro wanted to swap Madrid for Manchester.
Casemiro has always had a Spanish-speaking sounding board on the coaching staff at United, be it Mitchell van der Gaag, Ruud van Nistelrooy or any one of Ruben Amorim’s allies.
That has continued with Jonathan Woodgate, also a former Real Madrid player. So the oldest outfield player in the squad has not felt isolated.
United insiders noticed that Casemiro’s performance level shot up after Sir Jim Ratcliffe named him as one of five players his regime had “inherited” 11 months ago.
Casemiro was unhappy to be disrespected but his form over the past year has been by far his best since his influential first season at United in 2022-23.
For such a decorated player, he does not intimidate team-mates. A club source said Casemiro is not shy in raising issues he is unhappy with but does so privately.
He has become pivotal this season partially due to Ugarte’s struggles. Of the two specialist defensive midfielders, it was a no-brainer who Carrick would pick in his first game back in charge last month.
United’s enquiry about Brighton midfielder Carlos Baleba in August suggested they had all but given up on Ugarte. They have prioritised a No6 in the summer.
Ugarte was recruited as the heir apparent to Casemiro 18 months ago and Amorim picked them together in United’s Europa League quarter and semi-finals last year.
Before the semi-final first leg at Athletic Bilbao, Ugarte admitted he was copying Casemiro. Yet when push came to shove, Amorim benched the South American for the final defeat to Tottenham.
Ugarte has never truly recovered from United’s 2-0 home defeat to West Ham 11 days before the Bilbao final.
He was pickpocketed by Aaron Wan-Bissaka for West Ham’s second goal and, worse still, took an eternity to get back to his feet.
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Amorim unloaded at his post-match press conference when he said he was “embarrassed”. He warned that “we need to change a lot of things during the summer”.
Five days later, Ugarte came on in the 70th minute with the game goalless at Chelsea. A minute later, Marc Cucurella nodded in the winner.
With European qualification probable for United next season and their permanent head coach appointment likely to stick with a back four, they will need two new central midfielders.
Casemiro, Ugarte and Mainoo are the only out-and-out central midfielders in the squad and that will be trimmed to two on July 1.
If United make the Champions League or the Europa League next season, they are all but assured of ten more fixtures, with at least two domestic cup ties.
That would make it a minimum 50-game season after the 100-year low of 40 games this term, so quality and quantity is essential.
Then some faith may be restored in the United midfield.
