It would be near impossible to list out and rank all the flops that Manchester United (or any football club for that matter) have signed over the years. Therefore we’re going to just focus on the last decade; which is coincidentally the post Sir Alex Ferguson era.
The managers that have followed Fergie are, in order, David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Erik ten Hag.
Each of them have made some major mistakes in their recruitment, and we’ll look at the worst of the worst when it comes to the busts that they brought over to the club.
These aren’t ranked in order, but we did take into account their transfer fees, salaries and of course what comes with that- expectations. You can read about each flop in more detail, by clicking on their hyperlinked name.
Jadon Sancho
Starting off with a little recency bias here. Spoiler alert: Sancho is not going to publicly apologize for saying his manager lied when he explained to the media why the player was dropped from a match day squad.
That was 38 days ago and counting. And since he won’t apologize, he’ll instead leave in the January transfer window. Reportedly, United are willing to pay his wages (300,000 GBP per week) in order to make him go away. When you’re unwanted and disliked that much, what else is left to say?
Even before all this happened, Sancho was looking like a $100,000,000 flop. Which is sad given all the chances the club gave him- especially when they granted him a long leave, with specialized individual coaching, to get his head and body right.
Alexis Sanchez
While he arrived on a free, he spent a fair amount of time as United’s all-time highest paid player. And what did they get on that return on investment? Do we really need to look up his stats and re-post them?
Doing so, would just be plain old mean. Any of these first three we listed could easily be considered the worst overall signing in club history.
Harry Maguire
World’s most expensive defender, yet he’s total disaster class. Yet somehow plays well, at times, with England- how strange! You knew Slab Head would be on this list! The new Phil Jones, Maguire isn’t leaving the club any time soon.
So much has already been said about this man- no need to dogpile on further!
Memphis Depay
Some players are just all about that life when they first sign with United, and just take it too far. The money, the parties, the fame, the women, etc. etc. and they just never recover.
At least until they move on to another club.
Memphis has done that, and found his career again, so good for him.
Had His Moments, But Never Justified His Price Tag
Paul Pogba
On one hand, you kind of have to feel sorry for what has happened to this guy since he left the club (a second time). His career is may not even continue, and he got betrayed by his own brother.
On the other hand, is he a sympathetic figure at all?
Remember he broke the all-time most expensive player even signed record, and at no point was he ever anything even remotely close to PFA XI of the Year or FIFA The Best level.
While he showed flashes of brilliance at times, Paul Pogba at United fell way short of Paul Pogba with France.
Angel Di Maria
Better than people remember, if you look at his assists stats. However, when you break the British transfer fee record, you better be Ballon d’Or short list quality, and he was anything but that. Di Maria and Van Gaal were like oil and water, and it was never going to work. Thus, his time with the club was short.
Marouane Fellaini
Better than the fans give him credit for, at least under Mourinho. He wasn’t great under LVG, and he was awful under Moyes, but The Special One found a use/role for him, and made it work to some extent. Still the expectations were just too high for Sideshow Bob to ever meet.
Expectations Weren’t High, but Still Not Met
Alex Telles was only expected to contend for a starting job and he couldn’t even do that. Wout Weghorst was a last ditch, no risk rent-a-player in January, who was only brought in to try and make up for the goal-scoring void when Ronaldo left.
Dude couldn’t score a goal to save his life. Eric Bailly was arguably the worst signing of the Mourinho era.
Special Mention
Second Signing of Cristiano Ronaldo
First signing Ronaldo- greatest player, arguably, of the Premier League era, for United.
Second signing Ronaldo- do destructive and toxic that his leaving, right after the last World Cup, provided addition by subtraction for the club. Solskjaer himself even recently admitted this was a mistake.
Too Early to Say, But Trending in the Wrong Direction
Andre Onana
Howlers keep happening with him. Considering that he was short listed for the Ballon d’Or, and considered among the favorites for all the best goalkeeper in the world awards. Everybody knew, when he was signed that Onana is prone to be a high risk/high reward kind of GK. There is going to be a roller coaster with him, and that’s inevitable.
Antony
Even before his legal trouble started, he was simply NOT scoring the goals, or even creating goal involvements. His suspension is over, so he still has a chance to turn his career around, but he has a very long ways to go towards justifying that crazy high €95 million price tag.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He’s written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. He regularly appears on NTD News and WGN News Now. Follow the website on Twitter and Instagram