Manuel Ugarte scores first Manchester United goal as meme tokens ride the hype
The Uruguayan midfielder's long-range strike against Everton sparked celebrations on the pitch and speculative trading on Solana
Manuel Ugarte waited nearly six months and a reported £42 million transfer fee to find the back of the net for Manchester United. When he finally did, he made sure nobody would forget it.
The Uruguayan midfielder unleashed a long-range volley from outside the box in the 80th minute against Everton on February 22, 2025, completing a comeback from 2-0 down to salvage a 2-2 draw at Goodison Park. Solana-based meme tokens bearing Ugarte’s name popped up almost immediately. Tokens named MU and UGARTE emerged on-chain, riding the wave of attention surrounding the player’s viral moment.
From PSG to Old Trafford to the blockchain
Ugarte arrived at Manchester United from Paris Saint-Germain on August 30, 2024. The deal was structured at an initial £42 million, with add-ons potentially pushing the total to £50.5 million.
Manchester United signed a training kit sponsorship deal with Tezos in February 2022, valued at over £20 million annually. That partnership has positioned United as one of the more crypto-forward clubs in global football, with fan engagement initiatives built around blockchain technology.
The sports-crypto feedback loop
The Ugarte-linked tokens follow a now-familiar template on Solana’s meme coin infrastructure, where token deployment is essentially free and attention is the only commodity that matters.
What this means for investors
The more substantive investment angle involves the broader trend of sports organizations integrating blockchain technology into their commercial operations. Manchester United’s deal with Tezos, at over £20 million per year, represents institutional commitment to the space, creating revenue streams and use cases for blockchain infrastructure in fan engagement. For Tezos specifically, the United partnership provides brand visibility that reaches hundreds of millions of global football fans.
The FCA has already taken a hard line on crypto advertising in the UK, and a meme coin surge tied to a Premier League goal is exactly the kind of event that could draw attention from compliance teams.
As for Ugarte himself, the midfielder had made 51 appearances for United by mid-2026, contributing one Premier League goal along with another in the Europa League.