Sir Alex Ferguson's 20 worst Manchester United signings
In an astonishingly successful career at Manchester United, (Sir) Alex Ferguson won 38 trophies and changed the Premier League forever. But not everything he touched turned to gold.
To the delight of rival fans - and the relief of rival managers - Fergie was known to recruit the odd duff player... and he we present, in rising order of awfulness, his 20 worst Old Trafford signings.
20. Anderson
Anderson left Old Trafford just two years short of receiving the customary testimonial awarded to players after a decade's service. Such longevity is proof that the Brazilian wasn't a complete disaster at United, but it's equally fair to say he never delivered on his youthful promise.
Anderson was one of the world's most highly-rated teenagers upon his arrival in Manchester in 2007, but he never did enough to establish himself in the Red Devils' starting XI week in, week out. Four Premier League winner's medals keep him well clear of the bottom 10, though.
19. Owen Hargreaves
Canada-born, Germany-trained Hargreaves was a talented footballer who brought energy and bite to the United engine room, but his inability to stay fit meant he wasn't able to show it very often.
The England international, costing £17m from Bayern Munich in 2007, played 34 times in a debut campaign which brought the Premier League title and the Champions League. Yet the rest of his United career was a tale of never-ending frustration, the unfortunate Hargreaves restricted to just four appearances in three years before his exit in 2011.
18. Gabriel Obertan
Nobody ever expected Obertan to replicate Cristiano Ronaldo’s exploits in Manchester, but it didn’t help the young winger’s cause that he played in the same position as the Portuguese and was signed shortly before the United legend was sold to Real Madrid for a world-record fee in 2009.
The Frenchman did show flashes of quality during his time at Old Trafford, but an inconsistent end product and a spate of untimely injuries proved his undoing. He lasted just two seasons before being sold to Newcastle, and can currently be found in Bulgaria with Levski Sofia.
17. Diego Forlan
Forlan's failure at United still doesn't really make sense, but for one reason or another things just didn't click at Old Trafford: the striker scored only 17 goals in his 98 matches for the club in all competitions, and few were sad to see the back of him when Villarreal made a successful bid in 2004.
Perhaps Forlan would have been granted a stay of execution had he obeyed his manager in a game against Chelsea. "Ferguson wanted me to play with long studs, the interchangeable ones that suit wet pitches, but I feel more comfortable in short ones," the forward revealed in 2009. "I slipped in front of goal and wasted a chance. That was my last game for United."
16. David Bellion
One goal in 20 league games for Sunderland isn't usually the type of record which pricks up ears at United, but they made an exception for Bellion in 2003. The French frontman made a promising start to his Red Devils career, scoring in early appearances against Leeds, Everton and Tottenham, but he began to fade out of the picture as the season went on.
Bellion also began the 2004/05 campaign strongly, but Ferguson didn't see enough to consider him a long-term option. The striker left permanently in 2006 after loan spells at West Ham and Nice.
15. Mark Bosnich
Bosnich had only played three league games for United during his first spell at the club, so it was a slight surprise when Ferguson opted to re-sign the Australian following Peter Schmeichel's departure in 1999.
The ex-Aston Villa custodian started 23 times as the Red Devils retained the title in 1999/00, but he fell down the pecking order the following season and was shunted out the door in January 2000. Ferguson later labelled Bosnich a "terrible professional" in his 2013 autobiography.
14. Manucho
Manucho had made fewer than 100 league appearances in Angola when he was snapped up by United in January 2008. In truth, such a high-profile move came too soon for the striker, who struggled to settle both on and off the pitch in Manchester.
Manucho was immediately sent on loan to Panathinaikos, before hooking up with the United squad ahead of the 2008/09 campaign. Injury derailed his progress, though, and by the time of his departure the following summer he'd played just one Premier League match as a substitute.
13. Karel Poborsky
Unlike many of the names on this list, Poborsky probably was good enough to play for United. Named in the Team of the Tournament at Euro 1996 and a future star at Benfica and Lazio, the winger never truly convinced for the Red Devils, despite scooping a Premier League winner's medal in 1996/97.
Poborsky scored six goals in his 32 top-flight outings and did produce a couple of memorable moments, but he still goes down as one of Ferguson's most disappointing additions due to a failure to show his true ability at Old Trafford.
12. Neil Whitworth
After spending his first campaign as a professional at Wigan in 1989/90, defender Whitworth was brought to Old Trafford at the end of that season for a fee of £45,000.
He remained on United’s books for four seasons, but made just a single league appearance for the club during that time. The rest of Whitworth’s time was spent on loan at Preston North End, Barnsley, Rotherham United and Blackpool, before he sealed a permanent switch to Kilmarnock in 1994.
11. Wilfried Zaha
Ferguson's last ever signing proved to be one of his worst - although perhaps things would have been different had Zaha benefited from time on the training field with the Scot.
United agreed a £10m deal to sign the Crystal Palace hotshot in January 2013, with the winger immediately loaned back to the promotion-chasing Eagles for the remainder of the campaign. By the time he pitched up at Old Trafford in the summer, Ferguson had handed the reins to David Moyes - and Zaha struggled to make an impression under the former Everton boss.
After just 28 minutes of Premier League action in a United shirt the Ivorian was shipped out on loan to Cardiff, before re-joining Palace in August 2014.
10. Zoran Tosic
Alerted to the potential of Tosic and Partizan team-mate Adem Ljajic, United pulled off a double deal for the two Serbian forwards in 2009. The agreement for the latter ultimately didn't go through, and Ferguson must have been left wishing Tosic's move had also failed just a few months on from his arrival.
The winger clearly didn't do enough to impress his manager in training, for Tosic only made two appearances for United in the Premier League. He was sold to CSKA Moscow a year later and is now back at Partizan.
9. Pat McGibbon
Ferguson is credited with spotting McGibbon in 1992 while the teenager was playing for Northern Irish outfit Portadown, who are currently semi-professional but were competing in Europe back then.
A dream move for the defender got off to a nightmare start, as McGibbon was sent off on his debut – an ignominious 3-0 loss to York in the League Cup. The centre-back never really recovered: he didn’t make a single Premier League appearance for United despite sticking around for five years, before eventually leaving for Wigan in 1997.
8. William Prunier
Needs must and all that. Plagued by injuries and facing a hectic schedule around the festive period, United were pretty desperate when they handed Prunier a short-term contract in 1995. The centre-back had initially been signed on a trial basis, but he was thrust into the first team for a game against QPR, partnering Gary Neville in the heart of the defence.
It's fair to say the Frenchman didn't particularly impress, but he kept his place for the meeting with Tottenham two days later. Prunier was terrible as Spurs ran riot, scoring four goals and creating several more clear-cut chances at White Hart Lane. Unsurprisingly, the ex-Bordeaux man was released soon after.
7. Ralph Milne
Milne won the league and Scottish League Cup during his time at Dundee United, while he later proved himself a solid professional south of the border with Charlton and Bristol City.
Joining Manchester United represented a significant step up, however, and it soon became clear the Scot was out of his depth at Old Trafford. Signed in 1988 for £170,000, the midfielder made 29 appearances in his debut campaign but fell out of favour thereafter, playing just one game for United in his final two seasons at the club.
6. Dong Fangzhuo
Signed from Chinese outfit Dalian Shide for an initial fee of £500,000, Dong became the first East Asian to play for United when he pitched up at Old Trafford in 2004.
The striker didn’t break too many more records, though, making just a single Premier League appearance for the club and failing to find the net in any competition. Dong spent much of his time in the reserves or on loan with Royal Antwerp, for whom he netted 34 league goals in 71 outings, before his contract was terminated by mutual consent in 2008.
5. Eric Djemba-Djemba
“He’s quick, aggressive, a good passer and is the kind of athletic footballer we’re looking for,” Ferguson told reporters after landing the little-known Djemba-Djemba from Nantes in 2003. “He looks like a Manchester United player in every sense”.
That was at least until he got on the pitch. Signed as a long-term successor to Roy Keane, the Cameroonian did at least earn comparisons with the Irishman when he marked his debut with an overly aggressive tackle on Arsenal’s Sol Campbell, which was labelled “obscene” by Arsene Wenger.
Djemba-Djemba couldn’t match Keane’s midfield drive and influence, though, and was duly sold to Aston Villa in 2005.
4. Juan Sebastian Veron
United broke the British transfer record to acquire Veron from Lazio in 2001, spending £28m on a midfielder who had just helped the Biancocelesti win the Serie A title and Coppa Italia under Sven-Goran Eriksson. He therefore arrived at Old Trafford with a lofty reputation, but the Argentine failed to live up to expectations in the Premier League.
Not that Ferguson saw it like that. “He is a f***ing great player,” the United boss spat in a 2002 press conference. “And youse are all f***ing idiots.” Fair play.
3. Massimo Taibi
Replacing Peter Schmeichel was never going to be an easy task, but Ferguson wouldn’t have anticipated the task of finding a long-term successor dragging on to such an extent following the Great Dane’s departure in 1999.
Taibi represented a third roll of the dice after Mark Bosnich and Raimond van der Gouw had failed to convince. A man-of-the-match performance on his debut against Liverpool proved to be a false dawn, as the Italian ended his Old Trafford career with a record of 11 goals conceded in four appearances.
His howler against Southampton, allowing Matt Le Tissier’s tame shot to roll through his legs and into the net, must give Fergie nightmares to this day.
2. Kleberson
United’s two biggest signings in summer 2003 were Cristiano Ronaldo and Kleberson. Unfortunately for the latter, that’s where the similarities end.
Indeed, while the Portuguese superstar wrote his name into the club’s history books with his performances over the next six years, the Brazilian – who first came to the Red Devils’ attention at the 2002 World Cup – failed to get his United career off the ground.
The midfielder sustained an injury in his second game, but he was unable to make much of an impact upon his return to fitness. Two years and 30 appearances after joining, Kleberson was sold to Besiktas.
1. Bebe
Supposedly the only player Ferguson ever signed without first watching in the flesh. The circumstances behind Bebe’s £7m signing in 2010 remain shrouded in mystery; the Scot claimed he sanctioned the deal on the advice of his former assistant Carlos Quieroz, but the current Iran boss later told FFT that he “knew nothing about” the young forward.
One thing’s for sure: the Portuguese was a disaster at Old Trafford, making just two appearances before eventually departing for pastures new in 2014.
