Worst United signings of the past decade

Litch

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Lukaku had 10 goals after his first 9 matches for us if I'm not mistaken.
It was Conte that made a fuss about not getting Lukaku, thus almost forcing Inter to sack him or get Romelu.

We have already seen his problems when playing against mobile attackers(Batshuayi), or when forced to make quick movements(Yarmolenko). If/when we are going to play less park the bus and counter (we will not get far by continuing doing this) and trying to implement a higher press and more possession oriented approach, we will allow more counter-attacks and Maguire will be more isolated or in situations with more space. His lack of mobility is a big weakness in our defence unless we park the bus or play extreme possession.

Lottery numbers for this Saturday please.
 

el3mel

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Lukaku had 10 goals after his first 9 matches for us if I'm not mistaken.
It was Conte that made a fuss about not getting Lukaku, thus almost forcing Inter to sack him or get Romelu.
And he was considered a very good signing then? We can't predict if his form will drop similarly to what happened here or not. At the moment he's well worth the money for them.
 

Litch

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More interested in the worst signings joining a successful team than the worst signings under a series of shite managers during one of the worst times in our history. Context is alway needed. Some of those 'so called' worst signings would walk straight into this team today. I also think there's a big difference to taking a punt on a young player than buying a experience one.

No doubt in a year from now Pogs will be on the list, yet I can't see Felliani but I do see Fred.
 

Litch

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And he was considered a very good signing then? We can't predict if his form will drop similarly to what happened here or not. At the moment he's well worth the money for them.
.....I think also if most were asked a who's the worst manager, some fans would say Ole as some of the others won something BUT Ole is still here? If he goes on to get top four and wins a cup that would change. Like you rightly say, it's at the moment and not sure anyone can be considered good or bad until at least they no longer play or manage the club. At the moment, he's scoring and contributing, if he was still here he would have been starting and people forget that probably his goals contributed to Ole getting the job.....
 

Livvie

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4. Mata

Controversial I know! Firstly, I think Mata has been garbage for us, for the most part, bar the odd moment of class. Secondly, he cost nearly £40m. Thirdly, his style is completely at odds with how we supposedly want to play. He’s infuriatingly slow and cautious. Finally, he smacked of a thoughtless panic buy.
Harsh.

I'm a self confessed Mata fan. But not biased. Do I think he's past his best? Probably. Do I think he should always start - no.
But garbage? If that's the case, why was there a Special Juan banner made? Why was he being compared favourably with Silva? Obviously that was around his best season for us, but Anfield and various free kicks, plus other goals do not equate with garbage.

Slow, yes - but probably the best playmaker we have, even now.
 

paraguayo

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i honestly feel like Kagawa should be up there, people forget how hyped up he was. its like if we signed Sancho today and he performed 5.5/10 for us for some years
 

IRELANDUNITED

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Considering the cost and wages, the impact they have/had on the team and the resale value my list is the following:

1-. Alexis Sanchez
.
.
.
2-. Matic
3-. Mhikitaryan
4-. Fred
5-. Bailly
6-. Rojo
7-. Schneiderlin
8-. Scweinsteiger
9. Mata
10. Kawaga

There were other bad transfers like Di Maria, Depay, Darmian, Falcao, Blind but we were able to recoup most of the transfer when we sold them thats why I didnt include them on that list.

Neither of these have done too bad at all.
 

SAFMUTD

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Neither of these have done too bad at all.
40 million in 2014 for a player that has never been nailed to the starting XI id say is pretty much a failure. Remember than 40 million from back then its not the same as today.

Rojo is the same case, he wasnt as expensive but he has never managed ti nail a spot on the starting XI, this guy aling with the other multiple CBs we bought were the ones who were going to move Smalling and Jones, the fact both remained for so long speak for itself.
 

Ali Dia

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Sanchez
Di Maria
Basti
Shaw
Morgan S
Bailly
Falcao
Depay
Darmian
Mata
Valdés
Miki
Matic
Fred
Rojo
Kagawa
Bebe, Tosic, Buttner, Anderson

so many failures in the market! Our recruitment has been a joke for so long. It’s not the amount we’ve spent it’s identifying players who can really take us to the next level. Think of all the class hungry players who’ve joined rivals on good deals while we’ve wasted time and money on the above players. Liverpool city and even spurs have been kicking our asses in this respect for years.
 

INeedAbsynthe

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Has got to Sanchez surely given the expectation and the wages. You literally can’t give him away and are still stuck paying him at-least half whilst he plays for another team.

Imagine who else that money could be funding, one of the best in the world in his prime.
 

Livvie

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Some people appear to be confusing poor signings with a deterioration in form.

Poor signings are the players who have never performed for us, not those who aren't performing right now.

Despite saying that, I'm hesitating to say Sanchez was a bad signing because when you consider the number of players who have come with a good reputation but have failed, you really have to ask if there's more to it. Sanchez was a fantastic player at Arsenal so maybe we need to look at our set up, whether training, formation or whatever. We should be utilising a player's strength, not expecting them to change to suit us. If we don't want to play their way, we shouldn't be signing them in the first place.
 

Alabaster Codify7

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40 million in 2014 for a player that has never been nailed to the starting XI id say is pretty much a failure. Remember than 40 million from back then its not the same as today.

Rojo is the same case, he wasnt as expensive but he has never managed ti nail a spot on the starting XI, this guy aling with the other multiple CBs we bought were the ones who were going to move Smalling and Jones, the fact both remained for so long speak for itself.

This is true, 40m in 2014 was like a £70-80m signing nowadays. Bonkers in hindsight.
 

sp_107

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Considering the cost and wages, the impact they have/had on the team and the resale value my list is the following:

1-. Alexis Sanchez
.
.
.
2-. Matic
3-. Mhikitaryan
4-. Fred
5-. Bailly
6-. Rojo
7-. Schneiderlin
8-. Scweinsteiger
9. Mata
10. Kawaga

There were other bad transfers like Di Maria, Depay, Darmian, Falcao, Blind but we were able to recoup most of the transfer when we sold them thats why I didnt include them on that list.
Good one if you add Fellaini too
 

soapythecat

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Sánchez is easily our worst signing ever when you consider all the implications of the transfer.
I’m still embarrassed by how much we pay that man.
It’s also worth considering how well we were doing in the league at the time we brought him in. Talk about an unlucky charm!
Lingard is one of our worst first team players in the last 10 years.
 

UpWithRivers

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its more shocking to think of the best ones of the last decade because you will struggle.....De Gea, Van Persie.....two world class ones. Then a bunch of good ones Pogba(not proven World Class consistently), Herrera, Hernandez, Valencia, Zlatan, Young, ummm Shaw? Romero?
Then the new boys - maybe
 
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Luke1995

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Di Maria gave us a few good games.

Owen gave us the hat trick at Wolfsburg and that City goal in 2009

Bastian was bad but he did have two or three good games

Anderson was very bad at the end of his time here but he did have good two or three seasons

Falcao was a loan and we had the option to not pursue his signing, so wasn't that bad

Ashley Young it can be argued, was never a player for Manchester United, but again, he did give us some good memories with his long range goals.

I can't think of a single good game Sanchez had here, so he has to take the title
 

Gehrman

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1. Sanchez - 500 k a week delivered nothing and we are still paying half his wages for playing for Inter.
2. Di Maria - British transfer record - 6 good games and then spent the rest of his time on the bench.
3. Fred - 50 mil - Does not look like a footballer.
4. Mhiki - shit for us and transfered to Arsenal
5. Bastian - Injured and past it. Big wages
6. Snederlin - couldn't cut it here. wasn't cheap at the time
7. Depay - big money for a big talent - looked a championship footballer here
8. Matic - was it 50 mil? 3 good months and then looked past it
9. Baily - 30 mil terrible defender.
10. Lukkaku - 70 mil, good poacher, 1 good season and a terrible second. His technical ability does not exist apart from being a good crosser. Now plays for Inter
11. Bebe - What excatly was a homeless footballer doing playing for United?
12. Pogba - we lost him on a free and brought him back for a world record fee at 90 million. World class at his very best, but he has shown that so inconsistenly that's he's average and not worth 90 mil.
13. Lindehof - 30 mil terrible at times, sometimes sort of decent.
14. Falcao - destroyed by injuries, never showed form. big wages
15. Feliani - Never had the technical ability to be midfielder for United - around 30 mil. Was good at chesting the ball and winning headers.
16. Ashley Young - kind of a solid buy, but was never on the level of players he was suppose to replace like Giggs or Nani.
17. Rojo - Terrible
18. Darmian - not good enough
19. Mata - 40 million. Was twice player of the year at Chelsea. Only okayish for us. He's a flop in the sense, he never delivered to us than what he did with his clubs previously.
20. Michael Owen - free but considering he was replacing Tevez, we were getting a completely past it once world class striker.
 

e.cantona

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So many, but.. Pogba/The man-child. So much money for so little positive impact. Disruptive and constant rumours since he joined. We'll be lucky to get half the money spent on him back.
 

buchansleftleg

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So it's 1986 - you have won the first 10 games straight and have blown away the competition in the league. Barcelona come sniffing around your mercurial young, talented striker. Of course you tell them to get lost and concentrate on winning your first title in years don't you....or you agree to sell him for a large fee at the end of the season but you trawl the rest of Europe for a top notch striker don't you...or you buy Peter Davenport who scores once in 11 games and you limp home in 4th place.

We have serious form for making awful decisions that goes back even further than the current feckwits in charge!
 

Annihilate Now!

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For actual on field performance - Falcao

For the fee, performance, what it meant/means for the future and everything else - Probably Maguire.
 

Anybody's Guess

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This thread won't be short of good contenders. Someone could write a book on the subject.