Top Ten: The forgotten men of Old Trafford

There is no doubt Sir Alex Ferguson has done an incredible job at Manchester United. He has turned the club into one of the world’s best teams.

Since taking charge back in November 1986 he has made some incredible signings, but there have been some duds.

For some reason I found myself thinking of 21-year-old Italian striker Federico Macheda who was signed from Lazio’s youth team.

When he first broke through he looked like he was going to be a decent player but for some reason he could only score against Aston Villa and now finds himself sitting in the reserves.

It made me think of some of the other transfers that didn’t work out. Some were big money moves gone wrong and others were young players like Macheda who were brought in from other clubs at a young age and never developed as it was expected.

Here is a top ten list of ‘the forgotten men of Old Trafford’.

1) Juan Sebastian Veron

In Italy, Veron is known as a winner, a star, he was part of Lazio great team in 1999-00 that won the Scudetto and Coppa Italia but sadly in England he’s regarded as a failure.

This not something Sir Alex agreed with.

At press conference in 2002 the Scotsman said, “[Verón] is a fucking great player. And you’re all fucking idiots.”

He joined from Lazio in July 2001 for £28.1 million, but his move to United saw him struggle with the pace of the English game, and in two seasons he only made 45 starts and scoring seven times. They managed to sell him for £15million to rivals Chelsea where he also struggled before returning to Italy to play for Inter. After that he went back to Estudiantes where his career had began back in the early 90s.

2) Diego Forlan

Was he a failure? I have to say yes, he joined from Independiente for €7.5 million with a reputation of being a goal scorer but during his time at old Trafford he often struggled to find the back of the net and was seen as a donkey.

He was with the club for two-and-a-half years, but only had 23 starts. He did come off the bench 40 times in the league but he was not the signing Fergie expected.

His next stop was Spain where he found his scoring boots, he managed to score 26 times in 34 starts for Villarreal before joining Atletico Madrid where he also did well before having a big money move to Italy with Inter. So far he has struggled with form and injuries in Serie A.

3) Jose Kleberson

Not only is he a World Cup winner, but his coach, big Phil Scolari even stated that Kleberson was the driving force behind Brazil’s 2002 win.

Newcastle and Leeds wanted him but he headed to Manchester for almost £6 million in 2003. Unfortunately he got injured in his second game for the club and failed to make a decent impression on United’s fans.

He only made 16 league starts before being sold to Besiktas for £2.5 million in 2005. A real shame had not been for that injury it could’ve been so different.

4) Jordi Cruyff

When you’re Johan Cruff’s son you are always going to have a lot to live up to. Jordi, as his United shirt stated, started his career at Barcelona where his dad was the manager, but when he was sacked in 1996 the player felt it was time to move on.

He joined the Red Devils for £1.4 million, and got off to a good start but in November he injured his knee and like others on this list he was never the same player in a United shirt again.

He left for Spanish side Alaves in June 2000 after four years, having played 54 times and scoring eight times but in reality it wasn’t that great from someone with his blood line and the early promise he had shown.

5) Bébé

A strange one, he left Estrela de Amadora for Vitória de Guimarães (VSC) in June 2010 as his former club had financial issues. He had been offered to clubs across Europe for free at this point, but there weren’t any takers from any of the big guns.

VSC signed him, and initially inserted a €3 million release clause but after scoring five times in six friendlies it was increased to €9 million and only two months after signing for them in came Sir Alex with a £7,400,000 bid for a player thought to be the next Ronaldo.

Two and a bit years later this has not proved to be the case, he has only made two league appearances, both with him coming off the bench.  He is set for another loan spell away from the club, having spent 2011-12 with Beşiktaş, where he had a bad injury. So far it’s proved some very bad business from Sir Alex but you never know this could change in the future!

6) Owen Hargreaves

Canadian born Hargreaves arrived in Manchester for a whopping £17 million from German side Bayern Munich in 2007. During his time in Germany he played 118 games, and managed to win four league titles and was part of the 2001 side that won the European Champions League.

But, his time with United was plagued with injuries and he was limited to 18 starts during a four-year period. Had he stayed fit it would have been a completely different story – Bayern certainly managed to sell him at the right time!!!

His next move was to neighbours Manchester City after he had proved his fitness via a YouTube video, yet he still only managed to go on and make four appearances.

7) David Bellion

After scoring one league goal in 20 starts for Sunderland Sir Alex decided to make the move for the French striker. The compensation for signing the player was £2 million and could have gone up to £3 million depending on appearances. The only problem was that as soon as he put on a United shirt he looked out of place, clearly a step too far. He netted four times from 24 games in a three-year period before being shipped back to France to Nice.

8) Manucho

The Angola striker who could also play as a left-winger is now 29-years-old, which could come as a shock as he was seen as a youngster on his way up when he was in the team in 2008.

The one positive was that he joined on a free, and was offloaded within a year to Spain. During his short stint he only played one league game and during his time with the club he had loan spells with Panathinaikos and Hull City.

He is still in Spain with Real Valladolid, he has scored six times in 14 games this season including a double against Real Madrid.

9) Eric Djemba-Djemba

The one that always comes up when you discuss Sir Alex’s failed signings. When Djemba-Djemba was signed in 2003, it was thought that he could replace Roy Keane in the long term – HOW WRONG THEY WERE.

When he was on the pitch he really didn’t look like a professional footballer, he struggled to complete a short pass. He stayed with the club for 18 months, making just 20 appearances before being sold to Aston Villa for £1.5 million – he also struggled to perform there and after two years moved to Qatar and then Danish club Odense Boldklub where did actually did well!

10) Massimo Taibi

It was always going to be hard to replace Peter Schmeichel after he left Old Trafford but nobody realised how hard it would be. Taibi joined from Venezia for £4.5 million and was seen as the new number one, but he ended up only playing FOUR games, one of which was the infamous 5-0 defeat against Chelsea.

His mistakes led to him being nicknamed, ’The Blind Venetian.’

Yet once he went back to Italy he regained his reputation and became only the second goalkeeper to score a goal in Serie A, when he scored from a corner against Udinese.

In reality Schmeichel wasn’t replaced until 2005 when they signed Edwin van der Sar and the problem was finally resolved.

And that comes to the end of the list, it’s not in any particular order just ten players brought to Manchester United and failed to perform.

The photograph was provided by thesportsreview