Manchester United are known for throwing their weight around in the transfer market, but it hasn’t always gone well for them.
The Red Devils have pulled off a couple of the best relative bargain buys in Premier League history in the form of Eric Cantona and Nemanja Vidic, while even some of their bigger purchases – Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand and Cristiano Ronaldo, to name but three – quickly proved good value even if the initial fees seemed steep at the time.
For every smart acquisition, however, there have been a few which looked great at the time but soon began to look like expensive mistakes. We’ve picked out a few of the stand-outs.
Anderson
When United paid a combined £30million for Anderson and Nani in 2007, they were supposed to be getting two of the biggest talents in world football, both of whom would play a big part for the club for years to come. The Brazilian had longevity, but not in the way the club might have hoped.
The Guardian predicted the arrival of the Anderson, the younger of the pair, would ease the strain on Paul Scholes. Across the next six seasons, Anderson would play more league games than the England midfielder only once – in the 2012-13 campaign, during which Scholes came out of retirement halfway through the season and still racked up just one fewer appearance than his team-mate.
When Anderson left in 2015, he had played a grand total of 105 league games. The star of the 2005 Under-17 World Cup averaged 13 games and 11 shots per season while in Manchester.
Still, at least Nani fared better.
READ: Nani, Manchester United, and the unfair portrayal of a ‘frustrating’ talent
Jordi Cruyff
It turns out footballing dynasties aren’t always what they’re cracked up to be. Jordi Cruyff had played a fair few games at Barcelona, so he had to be good, right? Well, most of those games came when his dad Johan was in charge, and with all due respect, Jordi was no Johan.
The former Netherlands international arrived after playing all four games for his country at Euro 96, but he wasn’t able to build on that after moving to Old Trafford.
Two goals in his first three games marked a promising start, but he never really recovered from injuries in his first season and ended his three-year contract with just 15 league starts to his name
He did at least play his part in the Treble season, if you count three sub appearances in the Champions League group stage as playing your part.
Memphis Depay
We all thought this one…
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