Worst Manchester United Signings Of All Time

As one of the biggest clubs in world football, Manchester United are major players in the transfer market, but they haven’t always got it right, particularly in recent years.

We decided to look at some of the biggest transfer misses they have made. We considered several factors when compiling the rankings, such as performance on the pitch, price tag, the value they delivered, and the level of expectation.

Paul Pogba

With all that considered, it’s hard to look past Paul Pogba’s return to the club in 2016 for a then world record fee of £86 million as their worst-ever move, especially as he then went on to leave the club on a free transfer back to Juventus in 2022. Pogba always struggled for consistency, and his turbulent spell full of ups but more downs reflected the wider situation at the club during his time there.

Donny Van de Beek

In second place, we’ve gone for Donny Van de Beek, still owned by the club, who has managed just two goals and two assists since joining for £35 million back in 2020. Now on loan at Eintracht Frankfurt, there’s a good chance that the Dutchman will not add to his 62 appearances for the club, and United will be lucky to get a fraction of the transfer fee that they paid for him.

Morgan Schneiderlin

In third, we went for Morgan Schneiderlin. It’s hard to remember too many significant moments from the Frenchman in a United shirt, and that really tells its own story. Schneiderlin’s Old Trafford career was dull and uneventful, despite being signed for £25 million, and he was shipped off to Everton after 18 months at the club.

Jadon Sancho

In fourth is another current player, Jadon Sancho, who United excitedly pursued for years from Borussia Dortmund before finally getting their man for £73 million in the summer of 2021. And then, well, not much happened. Sancho managed just 12 goals and six assists in over 80 games for United before a high-profile falling out with manager Erik ten Hag. He’s now gone back to Dortmund on loan, and who knows if we’ll see him at Old Trafford again.

Juan Sebastian Veron

And rounding off the top five is a rare mistake from Sir Alex Ferguson, the £28 million signing of Juan Sebastian Veron from Lazio in 2001, a huge sum at the time. On his day, Veron was a pure joy to watch, but his high finesse style never really fit with United or the Premier League style at that time.

So that was our top five, with the top 10 being rounded off by Alexis Sanchez in sixth, Kleberson in seventh, Radamel Falcao in eighth, Wilfried Zaha in ninth, and Diego Forlan in 10th. One player who still has time to get out of our ranking, or worse, move up, is Anthony, the £81.3 million signing from Ajax, who thus far has been a big disappointment at the club but who is still in the first team picture. It’s certainly been a mixed bag for United over the years, and they’ll need to be more prudent in the transfer market going forward if they’re going to return to the game’s top table.