‘Final stages’: Romano provides a welcome update on United’s Ugarte pursuit which may have implications for one Red

Manchester United are edging closer to their fifth signing of the summer in the form of Paris Saint-Germain’s Manuel Ugarte.

Fabrizio Romano took to X (Twitter) this afternoon to reveal that the deal between the two clubs is now in the ‘final stages’, with United ‘close’ to sanctioning his arrival at Old Trafford.

Unwilling to meet the player’s £51m price tag this time around, PSG put forth the prospect to the Red Devils of taking Ugarte on loan for the 2024/2025 campaign, after which they will have to activate an obligation to buy clause.

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Of course, the downside to such an agreement is that United will still have to fork out a significant fee even if the Uruguayan doesn’t perform to their expectations across the term. You’d hope that they could negotiate a lower price than the Ligue 1 giants have been demanding.

Ugarte’s prospective switch may, in turn, have implications for Scott McTominay’s future. He’s garnered interest from a host of clubs, more recently Napoli, and will be well aware that a new midfield arrival could see his minutes slashed further.