Manchester United midfielder Manuel Ugarte was ruled out of the World Cup by Uruguay on Friday evening and football pundit Physio Scout has given time for his recovery.
Spain topped Group H after defeating Uruguay 1-0 in a heated match in Guadalajara.
With Uruguay keen to avoid a second straight exit, Spain looked more comfortable in the opening round, although neither side managed to make an immediate exit.
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Football FanCast verdict |
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Honesty |
Physio Scout is a sports scientist and physio with over 60,000 followers on social media. They share a quick analysis of injuries based on available photos and images, predicting recovery times based on similar injuries. |
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Finance |
Ugarte earns £120,000-a-week at Manchester United, sitting outside the club’s top ten earners. He is valued at £25m this summer and was expected to be sold to make room for new midfielders. |
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Testing |
Ugarte made 22 appearances in the Premier League last season, but only started eight of those games. He is best known for his tackling ability, the batting average and interceptions per game are combined in the top flight. |
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Impact |
Injuries could throw a spanner in United’s rotation plans. Various reports claim the club are looking to bring in three new midfielders this summer, but that was expected to depend on selling players like Ugarte. |
That changed in the 42nd minute, when Spanish midfielder Alex Baena curled an effort into the bottom corner with some questionable goalkeeping from Fernando Muslera.
Uruguay lost Manchester United midfielder Manuel Ugarte to injury soon after. He was stretchered off after colliding with one of his teammates.
Ugarte could miss the entire 2026/27 season
Ugarte was seen dislocating his left knee as his foot caught on the ground during a collision with a teammate, and Physio Scout reports a possible ACL tear with possible meniscus damage, noting a worrying ‘calf’.
“Valgus in the knee + an intact, rotating path points to an ACL tear (+/- meniscus).
“Calf flow was also seen, which often results in tearing. Expected Recovery Time: 9-12 months.”
This would rule Ugarte out for most or all of next season and put his next move in serious jeopardy.
It has forced United to re-examine the stadium’s reconstruction
The 25-year-old’s injury leaves United with tough questions to answer ahead of a summer that was meant to be spent revamping their squad.
Fabrizio Romano previously reported that the club planned to bring in three new faces in the position, but that would always depend on exits, and a season-ending injury would make it difficult to tempt the club to sign the former PSG star.
United pulled out of the race for Elliot Anderson as soon as it became clear that Nottingham Forest would want more than £100m, and they did the same last summer when Brighton stood firm in Carlos Baleba’s bid.
Indeed, the savvy move to bring in Ederson for around £35m shows exactly where the club’s mentality lies.
Their top target appears to be Mateus Fernandes, who West Ham are willing to sell to the highest bidder.
The Hammers hope to bring in more than £85m from the sale of the Portugal midfielder amid interest from United and Tottenham, and that deal for Ederson would take their spending in the midfield to around £120m.
Without the sale of Ugarte to bring that number back under the £100m mark, Michael Carrick would be forced to make only two new additions to his midfield squad.
