Manuel Ugarte to suffer immediate Man Utd blow after £51m transfer because of De Ligt

Manuel Ugarte is reportedly heading to England to finalise his move from PSG to Manchester United but the club won’t be adhering to all of his wishes. After weeks of negotiations, the 23-year-old is finally set to complete a £42.3million deal today, with the fee potentially rising to £50m.

According to the Athletic, the Uruguayan will undergo a medical in Manchester today, and is expected to sign in time to be available for the visit of Liverpool on Sunday.

The development comes after the player was left out of PSG’s first two Ligue 1 matches with Le Havre and Montpellier.

Ugarte has only spent one season in Paris since his £50m move from Sporting CP last summer. Upon his arrival in France he was handed his favoured No.4 shirt, but that option won’t be available at Old Trafford.

The jersey has already been designated to new signing Matthijs de Ligt. The centre back signed from Bayern Munich this month, and took the shirt that was worn last season by Sofyan Amrabat during his loan move from Fiorentina.

Previous club names to have worn the No.4 include the likes of Phil Jones, Nemanja Vidic, and Juan Sebastian Veron. The number was also given to a teenager Ryan Giggs when he was coming through the ranks, and the iconic Nobby Stiles in the 1960s.

But Ugarte will be forced to settle for another shirt. And one that is almost certain to soon be available is the No.39, with Scott McTominay on the verge of being sold to make way for Ugarte.

United have reportedly reached an agreement to sell the Scottish international to Napoli. The fee is said to be in the region, of £24.5million, with the deal set to end the player’s 22-year association with the club.

And the No.14 top might be up for grabs before the summer transfer deadline expires this Friday. Christian Eriksen is still being tipped to leave Old Trafford in a cut price deal, a notion that will now be exacerbated by Ugarte’s arrival.

Before completing his medical, Ugarte has moved to drop a major hint that his move is soon to be complete. He took to X to simply post an eyes emoji, suggesting fans should look out for transfer news in the next few hours.

Ugarte made 37 appearances at PSG last season. But despite helping the club to a domestic treble, is form dipped in the latter parts of the campaign, and he was regularly left out of the starting XI by manager Luis Enrique.