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Manchester United seem to have a direction in the transfer market these days but there was a time when half the decisions they made were baffling to the viewers.
Manchester United are one of the most adored football clubs in the world. They are also one of the richest sides in the world. While Old Trafford has consistently housed some of the finest footballers on the planet, they have also made some terrible decisions in the transfer market.
In the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era, Manchester United saw three managers come and go before they landed on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. At the time, different managers roped in different players to best execute their philosophies and most of these signings and other transfer decisions did not work out in the Red Devils' favour.
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On that note, let's take a look at the worst transfer mistakes committed by Manchester United.
#5 The slew of signings under Louis van Gaal
Louis van Gaal wants his side to play what he calls 'total football'. What we understand from watching Manchester United is that his teams hold onto the ball a lot and try to progress it although most of the passing is just horizontal.
To help implement his philosophy at Manchester United, the club signed players like Bastian Schweinsteiger, Morgan Schneiderlin and Radamel Falcao. Schweinsteiger was way past his prime and Schneiderlin never really hit his stride at Old Trafford before being sold to Everton in his sophomore season.
Radamel Falcao was a shadow of his former self and never even came close to being prolific, scoring four goals during his stint in Manchester. United lost a lot of money for very little gain in this scenario and all three players were moved on rather quickly.
#4 Manchester United selling Wilfried Zaha and Memphis Depay
To be fair, neither Wilfried Zaha nor Memphis Depay were world beaters when Manchester United decided to end their association with them. Zaha had been struggling to break into the senior side while Memphis Depay was dropping too many duds before turning in a brilliant performance on the odd day.
Zaha was sold to Crystal Palace and he has gone on to become their best player. Memphis Depay moved to Olympique Lyon and is currently one of the best forwards in Ligue 1. Both players have really upped their game in recent seasons.
Zaha and Depay would have fit well into Solskjaer's team and could have helped Manchester United save a lot of money. Also, Zaha was sold to Crystal Palace for a fee of £3 million rising to £6 million. Could you really blame the Ivorian if he celebrates extravagantly when he scores against Manchester United?
#3 Signing Bebe
Bebe joining Manchester United seemed like the perfect final chapter of a fairytale. A rags-to-riches story that could have been one for the ages ended up being anything but that. Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was ready to break his rules in order to sign Bebe.
He had received no formal football education and had fashioned his game from what he picked up on the streets. He secured a dream switch to Vitoria and impressed in pre-season, scoring goals aplenty and tearing it up with his pace and skills.
The reason it was a horrible decision for Manchester United to sign him was that Ferguson had only seen videos of Bebe and had okayed his signing before Bebe even played a match for Vitoria in the Primeira Liga. They could have actually signed him on a free had they been quicker but ended up paying €7 million.
Ferguson said:
“I know Real Madrid were hovering and so were Benfica. It was one of those decisions that had to be made quickly.
“Sometimes you have to go on instinct and sometimes you have to trust your staff as well. This was a first for me, but we rate our scouting department very highly and our scout in Portugal was adamant we needed to do something.”
Bebe impressed initially and looked like a good bargain until his flaws started showing far too frequently. He ended up playing just 334 minutes at Manchester United and left the club in 2014 following two loan spells.
#2 Angel Di Maria
Angel Di Maria is one of the finest attackers of his generation. But in a tepid Louis van Gaal side, Di Maria was consistently played out of position and despite all that, he still conjured up 14 assists in the Premier League in his only season at Old Trafford.
Some of his performances in the second half of the season were lackluster but there is no doubt that he could have become a great player for Manchester United with the right personnel around him. However, after joining on a £59.7 million deal, Di Maria was desperate to leave after a year.
Manchester United sold him for a fee around £44 million after one season and suffered a loss on one of the best players on the planet. The Argentine has since gone on to become one of Paris Saint-Germain's best players.
#1 Alexis Sanchez
Alexis Sanchez had come close to signing for Manchester City before Manchester United hijacked the deal and decided to shell out a fortune in order to just pay his wages over the next year and a half before he was ultimately offloaded.
Sanchez's signing was confusing to Manchester United fans as the Red Devils already had Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial in the left-wing position. However, Jose Mourinho wanted Sanchez to displace both of them and become the main starter.
Sanchez never hit his stride at Manchester United and made maybe two memorable appearances for them during his stint at Old Trafford. He was being paid more than £300,000 per week in wages but he was a shadow of his former self and couldn't replicate the kind of form he showed at Arsenal.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer then replaced Jose Mourinho and he had no use for the ageing Sanchez and he was sent out on loan before being sold permanently. Even while he was on loan, Manchester United paid a major portion of his wages.
It was a deal that crashed and burned and did not get Manchester United anything noticeable in return.
