Gary Neville admission hints at what Man United will do next in Ugarte chase (2024)

With just over three weeks of the summer transfer window remaining, Manchester United are in a race against the clock to get deals done.

United entered this summer's transfer window with the ambition of making plenty of changes to their first-team squad. They wanted to become more proactive in the seller's market and to add fresh faces to the squad as quickly as possible.

With just over a week to go until the start of the 2024/25 Premier League season, United have added just two new signings to Erik ten Hag's squad - not including re-signing Jonny Evans - recruiting Joshua Zirkzee from Bologna and highly-rated Lille defender Leny Yoro. The latter is already facing up to three months on the sidelines through injury.

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Yoro's premature exit from the pre-season tour of the United States has exposed United's biggest weakness: they lack adequate depth in key areas of the squad. They need to strengthen both the starting XI and the squad before the bell sounds on August 30.

Yoro's injury has put pressure on United's hierarchy to bring in another centre-back and they remain keen on Matthijs de Ligt. The club first registered an interest in the Bayern Munich defender several weeks ago and the speed at which a potential deal has moved at has been slow.

However, United verbally agreed personal terms with the Netherlands international almost a month ago and have seemingly stuck with their pursuit. De Ligt is a leading target for Ten Hag, who worked with him at Ajax.

United's refusal to jump from one target to another when having to play a patient game has to be commended. Of course, a line must be drawn if it gets too close to the deadline and the club has made no progress, but their willingness to stick with De Ligt makes it clear that he is who they want.

United followed a similar blueprint when bringing in Zirkzee last month. He had been identified as a target to strengthen their attacking options long before the deal was completed, yet they were patient enough to work out a preferred payment structure with Bologna instead of growing frustrated and looking elsewhere.

Having a clear plan and a concrete list of targets has not been United's strength in recent years. They were hell-bent on signing Frenkie de Jong two years ago, got nowhere with that pursuit, had a disastrous start to the season and signed a completely different profile of midfielder in the form of Casemiro.

But as Gary Neville anticipated last month, United have improved their recruitment planning, sticking with targets who have long since been identified.

"I think it will be quite measured," Neville said of United's recruitment. "I think if they can't get who they want, they won't buy anyone. I think they will make sure they're quite focused and precise in what they do moving forward.

"That should give Erik ten Hag more stability and better advice around him and more experience which hopefully will help him."

With time running out before the window closes, United still need to add to their squad, not least in midfield. They are crying out for a holding midfielder and Manuel Ugarte is understood to be their leading target.

Again, he has been linked with United for several weeks, and despite not an awful lot of progress being made up to now, United are still tracking him, refusing to pull the plug on their interest. They believe he is the answer to their defensive midfield troubles and it is increasingly clear he is their top target.

As Neville suggested, United are not signing players this summer for the sake of it if they cannot get their preferred targets. They could have moved on from De Ligt and chosen to go after another defender, yet they are still keen to sign the Dutchman.

It would be no surprise to see them remain glued to Ugarte unless they are left with no choice but to switch their focus.

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