21-year-old secures “desperate” transfer from Manchester United as Manuel Ugarte risk revealed

Manchester United will see academy graduate Will Fish leave Old Trafford this summer as risk they are willing to take to sign Manuel Ugarte has been explained.

Manchester United is looking to streamline its squad following a significant spending spree this summer. The club allocated £139 million to bring in Joshua Zirkzee, Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt, and Noussair Mazraoui.

The club has partly offset this spending by generating over £55 million from the sales of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Mason Greenwood, Willy Kambwala, and several others.

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With the transfer window closing in just under two weeks, the team’s management is actively seeking to strengthen the midfield and possibly add a left-back, with strong interest in Manuel Ugarte from Paris Saint-Germain.

To finance these potential new signings, the club are counting on agree transfers away from Old Trafford this summer, and defender Will Fish is set to sign for Championship club Cardiff City.

This is according to the Manchester Evening News, which claims that a deal has been agreed for the 21-year-old to sign for the South Wales club – although a transfer fee is not stated.

The report explains that several second-tier clubs showed interest in signing Fish, either on loan or permanently. However, Cardiff, who have long admired him, have reached an agreement with United.

Fish is said to have been “desperate” to play regular first-team football at a competitive level following a successful loan stint with Hibernian last season, and at Cardiff, he will now get his chance once he recovers from an injury sustained against Liverpool in pre-season.

Meanwhile, The Guardian has explained that United are now willing to take a big risk to wait until deadline day in order to sign Ugarte from PSG this summer.

According to the report, although no outgoings are needed to sign the 23-year-old, PSG’s £51 million asking price is deemed too high, and United feel that the Ligue 1 side may reduce their demands as the 30 August deadline draws closer.

Erik ten Hag and Dan Ashworth have reportedly agreed that, although the Dutchman wants the midfielder to sign as soon as possible to strengthen his midfield, they are both willing to wait as they feel that PSG will decrease their asking price in the coming days.

Waiting until deadline day is certainly a significant risk as it leaves the transfer slightly out of their control, as well as confirming that Ugarte would not be available until after the September international break should the transfer be finalised.

Casemiro and Kobbie Mainoo started in midfield on Friday evening against Fulham, but both players will certainly need cover for the coming season should United go far in the four competitions across 2024/25.

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