Top 5 players who have played for both Chelsea and Manchester United in Premier League era

Since the inception of the Premier League, the two teams to have won the most number of titles are Manchester United and Chelsea. Hence, it goes without saying that the rivalry between the teams has intensified over the years.

In such a scenario, one wouldn’t expect a player who represented one of Manchester United or Chelsea to play for the other as it would anger the fans but the truth is far from that. In fact, even Chelsea’s most successful manager, Jose Mourinho, is currently in charge of Manchester United.

While Chelsea would have been powerless to stop Mourinho from joining Manchester United had they wanted to, they could have certainly stopped their players from joining their rivals. Chelsea have directly sold two world class players to Manchester United in the last four years with Nemanja Matic being the most recent one.

Several other players have also gone on to play for both clubs but not all transfers were directly between the clubs. Here are the Top 5 players to represent both these English football giants in the Premier League era.

Honourable mentions: Mark Bosnich & Paul Parker

#5 Nemanja Matic

Nemanja Matic is the most recent entrant to the list of players who have represented both clubs. His career can be briefly summed up in the following manner:

Matic was signed by Chelsea twice, he won the league title with Chelsea twice, he was sold by Chelsea twice and finally, he was signed by Jose Mourinho twice. All of this happened in the space of just six years.

The Serbian is an excellent reader of the game and has a decent passing range. He might prove to be the most important signing Mourinho has made this summer. With the 29-year-old defensive midfielder shielding the backline, Mourinho can now give more freedom to the likes of Paul Pogba and Ander Herrera. This will alleviate the offensive problems the Red Devils faced last year.

As for Chelsea, it is surprising that they sold Matic to a rival and strengthened them when their own midfield options are thin. They did get a huge fee for Matic but they might have just handed over the league title to Manchester United in the process. Only time will tell.

#4 Juan Sebastian Veron

Veron had a torrid time in England

When Manchester United signed Juan Sebastian Veron for £28.1m in 2001, he became the most expensive signing by an English club. The Argentine arrived in England with a huge reputation, having won several titles in Italy with Lazio and Parma including the league title with the former in 1999/00.

However, Veron’s time in England was not comparable to his spell in Italy. He struggled to adapt to the pace of the Premier League and during his second season, Sir Alex Ferguson went on an expletive laden tirade against the media when asked about the Argentine.

Two years after signing him, Manchester United cut their losses and shipped him off to Chelsea for £15m.

Veron was one of the first players to join the Roman revolution at Chelsea but a year later, when Jose Mourinho took over as Chelsea manager, he was loaned out to Inter before eventually being sold to Argentine club Estudiantes in 2007 with whom he still plays at the age of 42.

It goes without saying that Veron’s time in England with both Manchester United and Chelsea was a disaster.

#3 Romelu Lukaku

Jose Mourinho sold Lukaku while they were both at Chelsea

The football world is a funny one. Back in 2014, when Jose Mourinho was the Chelsea manager, he sold Romelu Lukaku and signed Diego Costa as Chelsea’s first choice striker. Three years later, Chelsea tried to sign Lukaku to replace Costa but the Belgian striker chose to sign for Mourinho’s Manchester United instead.

Although Lukaku signed for Chelsea as an 18-year-old in 2011, he didn’t get regular game time at the club and was unsurprisingly loaned out in 2012. He joined West Brom on loan and scored 17 goals including a hat-trick against Manchester United in Alex Ferguson’s final game in charge.

A year later, he went on loan to Everton before signing for them permanently in 2014. At Everton, Lukaku scored 87 goals in 166 games.

Aged just 24, the Belgian has already played 186 Premier League games, scoring 85 goals. With age on his side and a much better team around him now, Lukaku is only going to get better and Chelsea might live to regret selling him.

#2 Radamel Falcao

Falcao scored just five goals in two seasons while in England

When Radamel Falcao moved to Monaco in 2013, he was one of the best players on the planet, even being named in the FIFPro World XI in 2012.

His move to France started well but an ACL injury he suffered midway through his debut season ended his World Cup hopes and that destroyed his morale severely.

Falcao signed for Manchester United on deadline day in the summer of 2014 on a loan deal and there was a lot of expectations due to his reputation. However, he was nowhere near his best following the knee injury and ended the season with four goals in 29 games of which only 17 were starts.

The following season he returned to England to play for Chelsea and this proved to be an even bigger disaster as he made two starts, played 10 games in total, and scored just one goal in the entire season.

#1 Juan Mata

Mata has won multiple trophies with both clubs

Juan Mata’s career in England is also another crazy story. Having joined Chelsea in 2011 from Valencia, Mata went on to become an instant hit at the Bridge and helped the Blues secure their only UEFA Champions League title to date, in his debut season, and the UEFA Europa League in his second season.

In his two full seasons at the club, Mata scored 32 goals and assisted 48 more. His outstanding performances were rewarded with him being named the club’s Player of the Year twice in succession.

However, in 2013, when Jose Mourinho arrived at Chelsea, the Spaniard found himself surplus to requirements and eventually moved to Manchester United in January 2014.

At Man Utd, he has gone on to win the Europa League, FA Cup and League Cup but more importantly, has remained an important player at the club even after the arrival of Mourinho, who a vast majority believed would sell him once again.

Both clubs have gotten some terrific performances from the player and he has won trophies with both teams. It's a win-win situation for all parties involved in Mata’s case unlike the other players on the list.