Manchester United's next summer signing is 'done' as next priority emerges: report
Manchester United could add two more players as their busy summer transfer window continues
![Manchester United minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/DQptr3pUD4P43mCxqnw8Tf-320-80.jpg)
Manchester United fans were expecting a busy summer transfer window and Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his Ineos team have so far delivered on that front.
Last season’s eighth-place Premier League finish exposed plenty of deficiencies in a Red Devils squad that suffered a number of expensive misfires in recent transfer windows and Ratcliffe has responded by funding £140million worth of new faces so far.
Joshua Zirkzee was brought in from Bologna to bolster the attack, while the defence has been strengthened by the arrivals of Leny Yoro, Matthijs De Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui.
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Midfield is the next position that the club are looking to address and following a protracted pursuit of Paris Saint-Germain’s Manuel Ugarte, the Red Devils look to be making progress, with TEAMtalk reporting that a deal for the Uruguayan is ‘close to full agreement’.
PSG had dug their heels in regarding their €60million valuation for the defensive midfielder, but the report adds that the player himself was adamant he wanted to move to Old Trafford and now a deal will initially see the 23-year-old move on a season-long is close to being finalised.
It would appear that this will not mark the end of Manchester United’s summer signing, as the report claims the saving that the team are making in their loan move for Ugarte means they can target a new left-back to add depth to the position following Luke Shaw’s recent injury issues.
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The club are also ready to sanction a series of outgoings over the final ten days of the window, with Scott McTominay the subject of interest from Napoli, Fulham, Brighton and Everton, while winger Facundo Pellistri is set for Panathinaikos.
Among the younger players linked moves away are defender Will Fish, who is set for Cardiff City, midfielder Maxi Oyedele and goalkeeper Radek Vitek.
In FourFourTwo’s opinion, engineering a loan move for Ugarte looks to be a sensible way of sealing a move for the Uruguayan disrupter, who should be an excellent signing, giving the club some PSR breathing room before what would likely be a permanent move for the player who is rated at €45million by Tranfermarkt, while more competition at left-back should mean the defence is fully stocked for the 2024/25 campaign.
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For more than a decade Joe Mewis has worked in football journalism as a reporter and editor, with stints at Mirror Football and LeedsLive among others. He is the author of four football history books that include times on Leeds United and the England national team.