Huge injury blow for Ten Hag: United’s summer recruit is forced off after 82 minutes with fitness concern

After returning to his most comfortable position and overseeing a relatively steady 82 minutes against Ecuador overnight, Manuel Ugarte was forced off with an injury concern. 

Indeed, Manchester United will now be left sweating on the status of their summer recruit ahead of their return to Premier League action on Saturday.

Ugarte is expected to return to Manchester today, where he will then undergo assessments to determine the severity of his issue. Prior to his withdrawal, he’d notched four tackles, two interceptions, one clearance and one blocked shot – all while registering an 89 per cent passing accuracy.

Yet, Marcelo Bielsa had no choice but to pull the 23-year-old from the tie in the closing stages of the 0-0 stalemate as Uruguay extended their concerning winless streak (in regular time) to eight matches in all competitions.

Manuel Ugarte has picked up an injury. pic.twitter.com/0bzXcXPh7w

— Football24/7 (@foet247europa) October 16, 2024

Ugarte adds to a host of injury woes for Erik ten Hag

Elsewhere at Carrington, youthful trio Kobbie Mainoo, Alejandro Garnacho and Amad Diallo all pulled out of international duty with injury concerns. However, they were not mentioned in The Athletic’s four-man United absentee list, so you’d hope that their decisions were precautionary matters.

Mason Mount is poised to return to training imminently after picking up a knock and a head injury in the 3-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur. If Ugarte does face a spell on the sidelines, the Englishman would likely slot in to fill the void.

Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Tyrell Malacia and Noussair Mazraoui are all unavailable for the Brentford visit on Saturday afternoon, the latter of which has recently undergone minor corrective surgery for heart palpitations. Thankfully, it was successful, although the club are understandably hesitant to put an exact timeframe estimate on his return to the fold.