Ruben Amorim hung Manuel Ugarte out to dry at Manchester United’s team meeting at the end of last season, according to reports. The Uruguayan midfielder has so far failed at United since arriving from Paris Saint-Germain for an initial £42 million in August last year. When Ugarte joined the club last November, it was hoped that Amorim would be able to get the best out of Ugarte, having worked together successfully at Sporting.
But 12 months on from Amorim’s appointment, Ugarte is still searching for his best form at Old Trafford. He has started just three games this season, including one in a humiliating Carabao Cup second round defeat to Grimsby Town. Casemiro, who turns 34 in February, is instead United’s first choice defensive midfielder.
The Athletic reported that Ugarte was told to dress down by his manager during a meeting the day before United’s final game of last season against Aston Villa. The meeting at Carrington took place just days after they lost to Tottenham in Bilbao in the Europa League final.
Alejandro Garnacho was reprimanded and told he needed a “good agent” in the summer transfer window, but Amorim later told Ugarte in no uncertain terms that he felt the midfielder’s work rate had decreased compared to their time together in Portugal. The manager accused the South American of being too comfortable at United.
The 40-year-old head coach also declared that he no longer recognizes Ugarte as the same player he used to play with. The team was stunned to receive such criticism in front of their teammates, but it also emphasized that the coach demands a certain level of application and effort. Players are believed to believe that Amorim’s assessment, while harsh, is largely fair.
Ugarte has struggled to form this season and was partly responsible for United’s two goals conceded in last weekend’s dramatic 2-2 draw with Tottenham in the Premier League.
United icon Wayne Rooney questioned Amorim over the decision to substitute Casemiro for Ugarte at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. “He (Casemiro) doesn’t have a game next week, right? It’s the international break. So, yeah, unless he’s really tired physically or has a knock, we don’t know. But yeah, they probably should have kept him on.”
“And as a manager, when you make a change, you hope it pays off, because obviously when it happens, it’s great and everyone turns around and says, ‘Oh, that was a great decision.’ But sometimes it doesn’t, and that’s a big deal. ”
Amorim responded, “We have a lot of problems. We are just getting started. I know that sometimes the results show people that we are improving. We are improving, but there is a lot of work to do.”
“I felt comfortable in the match, but I think we have to do better and be more aggressive, feeling the environment in the stadium and the three points we had there and the space we had.”
“I think we felt too comfortable during the game. You have to hope that with one play something can happen and change the atmosphere in the stadium. And today was that. The game was to win, so we need to be better.”
