Biggest United transfer (foreigners and foreign clubs only)

led_scholes

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So, i was wondering who is considered our biggest signing in terms of football status. I mean big big names that were at the right age and not past it like Falcao, Larsson or Schweinsteiger.

Thinking of our transfers we do not seem to buy the biggest names in the world, even when we were considered the best club in England and one of the best in Europe, despite being linked with everyone (ok not this year). I can only think of 3 players that were global stars and one of them had already spent his youth with us. I believe that only during 2001-2003 we were truly linked with some of the biggest names like Nesta, Ronaldinho and Rivaldo, with confirmed bids for the first two, and felt we can get them, in contrary with the recent years which felt, at least for me, more like unvalid rumours and players trying to get a better contracts.

I exclude British players or foreing players coming from British clubs. Thus, no Cantona, RvP, Mata etc.

So for me the biggest names that were in top of their game too were:

Veron. He was considered one of the best cm in the world. People have called him a flop, however I regard his time here a semi successful. Nostalgia perhaps or bias since I realllyyyy wanted him here.

Di Maria. We bought him after his best season: he was instrumental in Real winning the CL and Argentina reaching the WC final.

Pogba: the most expensive transfer for a while and a star in a excellent Juve team and a EC finalist.

I looked for a similar thread, but didn't find one. Apologies if there is a similar one, please feel free to delete this one.
 

TheLord

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Must be Veron, and Pogba in a close second simply because of how we were fleeced by the Italian press who successfully hyped him up to the point of no return.
 

wolvored

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led_scholes said:
I wouldn't consider Ronaldo as a big name though, at least back in 2003! He was regarded as a massive talent but he was still 18.
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I was thinking overall with the lowish price bought for and very high price we sold him for, plus the bit in-between obviously. Just for someone at their peak you got Robbo Schmeichel Cantona Stam Ferdinand Keane RVP all had a fantastic effect on the club. There are others as well. Robbo my favourite all time player. Pity he hadn't have been 5 years younger. I know they wasn't all foreign so for instant value Cantona would be it.
 

Hansa

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led_scholes said:
Veron. He was considered one of the best cm in the world. People have called him a flop, however I regard his time here a semi successful. Nostalgia perhaps or bias since I realllyyyy wanted him here.
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Yeah, this was probably the first true big-name signing from abroad. And, like you, I'm not falling for the lazy verdict of "flop" that so often pops up when talking about Veron. He didn't have the consistent impact we hoped for, but at the time, Scholes called him the best player he'd ever played with, and it seems that he still rates him.
 

The holy trinity 68

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wolvored said:
I was thinking overall with the lowish price bought for and very high price we sold him for, plus the bit in-between obviously. Just for someone at their peak you got Robbo Schmeichel Cantona Stam Ferdinand Keane RVP all had a fantastic effect on the club. There are others as well. Robbo my favourite all time player. Pity he hadn't have been 5 years younger. I know they wasn't all foreign so for instant value Cantona would be it.
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The OP stated foreigners from foreign clubs yet you name Cantona, Ferdinand, Keane and RVP. Only one of them not being classed as foreign.

Anyway, for me I would choose DDG. In the worst period of the clubs history since the 80’s, DDG has saved the teams skin so many times. He was the best GK in the world for a while and won the Sir Matt Busby player of the year 4 times. He deserved more league titles for us.
 

Hansa

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led_scholes said:
So, i was wondering who is considered our biggest signing in terms of football status. I mean big big names that were at the right age and not past it like Falcao, Larsson or Schweinsteiger.
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By the way, Falcao was a huge signing. At the time, we didn't know that he was past it. Most of us thought we bought the guy who destroyed Chelsea.
 

wolvored

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The holy trinity 68 said:
The OP stated foreigners from foreign clubs yet you name Cantona, Ferdinand, Keane and RVP. Only one of them not being classed as foreign.

Anyway, for me I would choose DDG. In the worst period of the clubs history since the 80’s, DDG has saved the teams skin so many times. He was the best GK in the world for a while and won the Sir Matt Busby player of the year 4 times. He deserved more league titles for us.
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I said Ronaldo first, for the impact he had, the cost and the resale value, but he didnt have an impact Like Schmeichel or Stam straight away. I was then just reeling off who I thought had been bought and had a big impact straight away.
 

Tom Cato

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I think the obvious answer here is probably Paul Pogba from an international standpoint. He was the new world record transfer at the time after all.
 

Chesterlestreet

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Pogba or Veron, depending on what you emphasize.

Probably Pogba, though, given the immense hype, the prodigal son angle and the record fee.

ETA You could make a case for Ruud too, certainly. The hype was huge and the fee was a British record. However, I would say that Veron was more established (as an absolute top player in his position). Ruud had a fantastic record at PSV, but the status of the league was clearly below the Serie A (which Veron had won - in addition to winning a European title).
 
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led_scholes

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Hansa said:
Yeah, this was probably the first true big-name signing from abroad. And, like you, I'm not falling for the lazy verdict of "flop" that so often pops up when talking about Veron. He didn't have the consistent impact we hoped for, but at the time, Scholes called him the best player he'd ever played with, and it seems that he still rates him.
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Yeah, i didn't want to elaborate that much but we lost about 50% of the money transfer, so everyone assumes that he was a massive flop. He rarely gave us dominant performances, the ones we hoped for, but he never had awful games too. There are many comments, like the one you mentioned, from our former players and SAF that are very positive towards his abilities.

In hindsight, we can say we bought him in the wrong season, since we needed more of a CB after Stam's departure, and also because we haven't yet started utilising the 4-5-1 (4-3-3) formation as much as we did after 2003 and especially after 2004. Maybe we sold him bit earlier than we should.

Regarding Falcao, you are right that we didn't know he was past it, however he came back after a big injury so there were questionmarks about his fitness and I believe that is why no team tried to buy him but eventually he was just loaned (with a big fee though).
 

ThinkTank@Cafe

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It’s tough to name someone not mentioned in OP. What strikes me is how much we rely on EPL proven transfers. Which is not bad given how successful we were in 1992-2013.

Bruno, who was not a global superstar at Sporting but his stats were insane and he was definitely a big transfer for us in terms of attention and expectations.
 

Chesterlestreet

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Paul the Wolf said:
Although oldish, Ibrahimovic was a proven star and signed for us after his best ever season.
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Yeah. Was a "marquee" signing of the first water. Everyone regarded it as something of a stopgap thing, though.

However, I'd class it in a different category than - say - Schweinsteiger for this reason: nobody seriously questioned Zlatan's commitment and general ability for his age. Whereas plenty of people considered "BFS" as more of a gamble (the idea that he was - in fact - seriously past it was common at the time).

Di Maria has to be on the list too, of course - in hindsight he was a positively dreadful piece of business, but he came to United as a proven "world class" player based on his career up till that point.
 

ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg

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Precaution said:
Kinda left field but wouldn't Teddy Sheringham be considered? England international and Spurs legend by this point
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That’s was so underwhelming at the time as he was the replacement for Eric - and he was older than Eric @ 31. He did well, although Innever particularly rated him at the time, but clearly had some very big moments for us.
 

ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg

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Veron and Di Maria were the biggest ones given the OPs criteria.

Stam was a relatively unknown player, not in the same league as those two. RVN was a big signing, but a huge risk, and was best known for his failed transfer 12 months prior. Both the latter players were far better for us.

The other one to mention is Barthez, World Cup winning GK, for a pretty big fee in a position we really needed. He was a big signing at the time.
 

Andycoleno9

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Veron. Top player bought at his best age. Pogba and Falcao are close too.

But, now when you look at it...we rarely buy players who are at that moment rated as world class players.
 

Spaghetti

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Got to be Di Maria. Pogba probably would have been if he wasn’t returning.

Veron, Zlatan, Blanc and Barthez are good calls too.

It’s surprising how hard it is to think of foreign marquee signings
 

carvajal

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I'd say Verón. Falcao arrived post-injury and Di María, although a good player, did not have the status of Verón.
 

Web of Bissaka

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led_scholes said:
who is considered our biggest signing in terms of football status. I mean big big names that were at the right age and not past it
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Just 4 players:

1. Pogba - think he's the biggest no doubt. Ridiculous over the top expectations really, which the criticisms afterwards proved.
2. Veron - don't remember much but the hype is seriously huge and real.
3. Di Maria - high expectations but not that high compare to the top two.
4. RVN - top rated player, Fergie won his heart. I'm sure there are plenty other top clubs wanted him. I think he's the lowest because he didn't came from clubs that made huge wave to CL, less expectations.

Not sure other players are qualified. Those four are at the right age and at their arguably near but not-yet peak/prime.
 

devilish

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Biggest name - JSV. He was considered the second best playmaker in the world (after Zidane)

Best signing: Peter Schmeichel
 

Isotope

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Herrera's cost a sizeable chunk of money also. So did Martial.
 

red4ever 79

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Veron was the one for me. We were not at that time known for buying the best foreigners in the world. That one will always stand out for me.
 
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