After watching Cristiano Ronaldo humiliate John O’Shea during a pre-season friendly, Manchester United moved to sign the winger in the summer of 2003.
Ronaldo then developed into one of the best players in the world, winning three consecutive Premier League titles before joining Real Madrid in an £80million deal in 2009 – and making a grand return to Old Trafford 12 years later.
We’ve taken a closer look at the other four players the Red Devils signed alongside the Portuguese icon ahead of the 2003-04 season.
David Bellion
Once dubbed the ‘next Thierry Henry‘, Bellion joined United in controversial circumstances following accusations of tapping up from Sunderland.
“United’s treatment of this club is shabby, despicable, disrespectful, arrogant and unprofessional,” former Sunderland chairman Bob Murray said in January 2003. “They have broken every rule in the book.
“He wants to go to Manchester United and I understand that. But they refuse to meet our asking price and have totally unsettled our player both mentally and physically – David has told me he doesn’t feel mentally right to play for Sunderland.
“The relationship between our two clubs is at an all-time low. Why don’t they just close their academy and do this to every decent young player in the country.”
The Black Cats asked a Football League tribunal to settle the matter and United eventually forked out a £2million compensation payment.
It was an awful lot of trouble for a player who failed to live up to the hype and was sold to Nice after scoring four goals in 24 Premier League appearances.
Eric Djemba-Djemba
So good bad they named him twice.
Identified as a potential long-term successor to Roy Keane, Djemba-Djemba joined United from Ligue 1 side Nantes in a £3.5million deal.
While the midfielder did score a beauty against Leeds, he never justified those Keane comparisons and was promptly shown the door in January 2005.
“It was a lot of pressure –…