Man Utd told to ‘never pick’ £50m man again as Roy Keane destroys star for ‘non-existant display’ v Leeds

Roy Keane has lambasted Manchester United’s near non-existent midfield in the first half of their historic home defeat to Leeds on Monday night, with one popular outlet claiming the star should never play for the club again.

The Red Devils were beaten 2-1 at home by Daniel Farke’s side, thanks to two Noah Okafor goals in the first half. And while United, reduced to 10 men in the second half, put up a spirited fight to reduce the arrears thanks to a Casemiro header, the visitors were good value for the win, claiming a first league win at Old Trafford in 45 years in the process.

At the heart of Manchester United slipping to an early 2-0 deficit was an inability to control the midfield. Leeds, executing the 3-5-2 formation to devastating effect, were able to find large pockets of space and break between the lines, feeding the ball out to their wing-backs, which in turn caused chaos in the Reds’ rearguard.

And one man in particular looked like a rabbit in the headlights, with Manuel Ugarte , having been handed his first Premier League start under Michael Carrick after a training knock sustained by Kobbie Mainoo, producing the kind of display that shows why he’s not considered good enough for United.

Speaking after the game, Keane knew exactly where United had lost the game.

After admitting Leeds deserved their win, Keane added on Sky Sports : “But when you start a game that slowly, it’s hard to recover.

“You’ve got to run and Man Utd weren’t sprinting. A little bit at the end, but it was too little, too late.

“It’s a big setback for them.

“The midfield was non-existent, particularly in the first half. No energy, no quality and Leeds were out of the blocks quickly. A fantastic result for them.”

Ugarte, who signed in a £50.7m (€60m, $67m) from PSG in August 2024, has struggled badly since making the move to the Premier League.

And reacting to that defeat, supporters and one United-focused outlet had also seen enough…

While Keane did not name Ugarte in particular, supporters were quick to lament his performance and, awarding him a 2/10 performance on Monday night, Unitedinfocus were quick to condemn the player under the headline of him never being picked for the club again.

Their report said of the Uruguayan: ‘Zero progressive passing, lacking in duels, struggling with confidence, and failing in pretty much every department otherwise. This game seals his fate at United if it wasn’t already.’

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In more positive news, Michael Carrick insists an important deal Manchester United are making is “getting closer” , and TEAMtalk can provide extensive insight into the inner workings of the impending agreement.

While Monday night’s loss will have done Carrick no favours, he still boasts seven wins from his 11 games at the helm and carries a 63.6% win record.

And when it comes to announcing the club’s next permanent manager, Carrick is adamant he ticks plenty of boxes, after it was reported that the 44-year-old now has to battle off just one other contender to take the job on a full-time basis .

In other news, Manchester United are reported to have ‘made contact’ for what’s being called the ‘transfer ‘sensation of the summer – and better yet, the player in question is said to be ‘very open’ to joining.