Olaleye IDOWU
Manchester United legend, Rio Ferdinand, has said the club’s midfielder, Manuel Ugarte, has disappointed him since he joined the club.
Ferdinand believes that the main task for the club’s interim boss, Michael Carrick, is to help Ugarte perform at his best.
He mentioned that Ugarte has not performed well since joining the club and requires a confidence boost.
On his YouTube channel, Ferdinand said he heard really good things about Ugarte before the midfielder joined Manchester United.
“He hasn’t seen even a hint of the player that was told about him, saying that the key traits of tackling and being aggressive are not present in his game,” the former England and Manchester United centre-back said.
“I have to be honest, I’ve been pretty disappointed with Ugarte. When he first came in, everyone said he had good legs, he could tackle, and he could move well.
“The description I was getting was that he was the kind of player we needed. It hasn’t happened yet, and it hasn’t become noticeable. I haven’t seen the player that everyone was talking about before when it comes to getting up fast and tackling opponents.
“That’s supposed to be a big part of his style, playing aggressively. He hasn’t put a marker down in a game that made me think, ‘this guy could be one of our midfield players who can really get things moving in the middle of the field’.
“He hasn’t got anywhere near that. Can Michael Carrick get any more out of him? That’s going to be a tough task for Michael Carrick: Can he pull more performance out of each player on his own to help improve the team as a whole?
“He needs to improve both the team and the individual players, making them perform at a higher level and get much more from them.”
Manchester United paid £51 million to sign Ugarte from PSG, and the 24-year-old has not met the expectations people had of him.
He has been in 62 games for the Red Devils, scoring two goals and setting up six others.
