Manchester United summer signing Manuel Ugarte is ‘unhappy’ and is already ‘regretting’ his decision to join the Premier League giants from PSG.

The Red Devils spent around £185m in the summer to sign Ugarte, Joshua Zirkzee, Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui.

One of their priorities in the summer was to sign a defensive midfielder and they signed Ugarte from Ligue Un giants PSG.

Man Utd were initially priced out of a move for Ugarte, but co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his recruitment team held firm before finalising a deal worth an initial £42m plus add-ons on deadline day.

Ugarte was mooted as a long-term replacement for Casemiro, but the Uruguay international has only made one Premier League start and was an unused substitute against Aston Villa last weekend.

Van Basten said: “Ugarte, who cost £50 million, you think, ‘how do you even think about paying so much money for that?’ That is really bizarre.”

He added: “It’s true that the big clubs, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City, Arsenal, they get the better ones and he [Erik ten Hag] always comes with second-rate players. That team has not got better.

“He remains a good trainer but if you see the purchasing policy and those boys which were then bought for 700 million, I don’t see any return on that, they’re still poorly organised.

“There is no star walking around who organises it, who leads, none. A few years ago Marcus Rashford was a great player, he can’t do anything about this any more, it’s unbelievable. It’s strange for that a boy who was a world star years ago.”

A report in Spain claims Uagrte ‘regrets joining Man Utd in the summer’ as he already ‘appears to be reconsidering his decision’ to sign for the Premier League giants.

Ugarte is reportedly’ not happy’ at Man Utd as his ‘limited participation’ has ‘frustrated’ the defensive midfielder.

‘Manuel Ugarte appears to be reconsidering his decision to join Manchester United in the last summer transfer window. The Uruguayan midfielder is not having the experience he expected with Erik Ten Hag as his new coach. Although he was expected to have an important role in the team, his participation has been much more limited than anticipated, generating frustration in the player.

Real Madrid are expected to sign a new centre-back in 2025. Their failure to secure the services of Leny Yoro, who ended up joining Manchester United, during the summer has meant that Carlo Ancelotti will be short in that department for the first half of the season at least.

Ideally, club officials want to wrap up a deal in January, with the likes of Castello Lukeba, Jorrel Hato and Vitor Reis on their shortlist. However, they could opt to wait until next summer to land an even bigger fish.

According to le10sport, Real Madrid have William Saliba as their dream centre-back signing. They are reportedly prepared to go all-out to do a deal with Arsenal, and already, they have been in contact with his representatives.

Saliba is one of the best central defenders in the world, of that there is no doubt. He would be an incredible signing for Real Madrid, should they decide to pay big money for his services.

Joshua Zirkzee could leave Manchester United as early as January after a disappointing start to his Old Trafford career, the Italian press have claimed.

According to Calciomercato, if Zirkzee’s troublesome spell continues then he might follow in the footsteps of Romelu Lukaku by leaving a Premier League club early and returning to Italy.

Lukaku played for Man Utd between 2017 and 2019, while he spent just one season back at Chelsea before returning to Inter Milan on loan in the 2022-23 season.

There is supposedly the possibility of an early ‘separation’ between Man Utd and Zirkzee as the Netherlands striker has netted just one goal in 10 appearances for the Red Devils so far.

Following a £36.5million (€43.5m / US$47.8m) move from Bologna in July, Zirkzee marked his Man Utd debut by scoring a late winner against Fulham in his team’s first Premier League match of the campaign.

But Zirkzee has failed to build on that short, game-changing display and has come in for criticism in recent weeks.

Calciomercato state that AC Milan, Juventus and Roma are all keeping tabs on the 23-year-old’s situation. Those three Italian giants may swoop in if they discover that Man Utd are open to selling Zirkzee in the winter transfer window.

Milan were very keen on landing Zirkzee in the summer. The Rossoneri missed out on him to Man Utd but could soon be given another opportunity to strike a deal.

Joshua Zirkzee transfer value has dropped
Sources have confirmed to TEAMtalk transfer insider Rudy Galetti that the Man Utd hierarchy are frustrated with the fact that Zirkzee’s value has dropped since his summer switch, and they may be open to loaning him out in the future.

TEAMtalk can also confirm that Juventus and Milan are indeed interest in the attacker. Thiago Motta would like to reunite with him at Juve, as the pair struck up a great relationship during their time together at Bologna.