Manuel Ugarte's knee ligament injury, picked up on World Cup duty with Uruguay, has sparked a wave of questions from Manchester United fans wondering whether the club will see any financial compensation for losing their midfielder to international action.
According to BBC News, which fielded the query through its Manchester United Ask Me Anything feature, any payout wouldn't come directly from FIFA covering wages in the way some assume. Instead, compensation for clubs when players are injured on international duty typically flows through FIFA's Club Protection Programme, which reimburses clubs based on specific criteria rather than simply replacing a player's salary during his time out.
United will be keen to see Ugarte back fit as soon as possible given his importance to Rúben Amorim's midfield plans, but the report makes clear that the compensation process is more nuanced than a straightforward reimbursement of lost wages, leaving supporters to wait and see exactly what, if anything, the club will receive.