Manchester United's 5 greatest players of all-time

#1 Sir Bobby Charlton

Sir Bobby Charlton.

"There has never been a more popular footballer. He was as near perfection as man and player as it is possible to be.

That was the opinion of Sir Matt Busby, the man who had watched the Englishman from close. Sir Bobby Charlton joined Manchester United as a 15-year-old in 1953, oblivious to the fact that he would go on to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of the club. He was one of the fabled Busby Babes, who were shaped by the ethics and etiquette of Sir Matt Busby. Sir Bobby was fast developing into one of United’s most important footballers when tragedy struck the club in 1958.

The Munich disaster left Sir Bobby in a state of shock, as he was among the handful of survivors from the crash. Losing his close friend Duncan Edwards left a deep void inside the Englishman but it also hardened him. He was crucial to Sir Matt Busby’s rebuilding of Manchester United, as the Red Devils rose from the ashes like a phoenix and dazzled the world yet again.

Sir Bobby helped England lift the 1966 World Cup and also won the Ballon d’Or in the same year. In the following year, he captained the Manchester United side that became the first English team to win the European Cup. He was United’s all-time leading goalscorer until he was surpassed by Wayne Rooney in 2018.

Sir Bobby appeared 758 times for Manchester United, scoring 249 goals. He is the greatest player to have played for Manchester United.