Give me a list of signings over the years that have equalled or excelled your high expectations

[simplyared]

Note: I'm talking players who are already hyped, either young players with big price tags or already established players/internationals who are already top level.
Cantona, for example, wouldn't fit those categories as he was a gamble imo when we bought him.
RVP is pretty obvious. Who else?

 

[Samid]

Romero

 

[RedBanker]

Rio Ferdinand
Edwin VDS
Wayne Rooney
Carrick

 

[ohhrooney]

Wayne Rooney
Rio Ferdinand
Van Der Sar
Roy Keane

Such is how SAF used to make his team, we rarely needed to buy a proven superstar when you look at all the years he was the club. When we did, we spent big and rarely did we falter (Veron and Forlan comes to my mind).

In recent years there have been lots of power buys but not one has impressed yet.

 

[No Idea For Nickname]

Zlatan

 

[roonster09]

Rooney
Ferdinand
Ronaldo
Carrick
RVP
DeGea

Hazard
Fabregas - Chelsea
Costa
Kante - Chelsea

Aguero
Silva
B.Silva
Yaya Toure
Laporte

Mane
Van Dijk
Alisson

Tielemans

Neymar
David Villa
Suarez

Benzema
Ronaldo - Madrid
Kroos
Modric
Varane

Zlatan - Inter, Milan, PSG
Thiago Silva - PSG
Verratti
Mbappe

 

[simplyared]

Rooney
Ferdinand
Ronaldo
Carrick
RVP
DeGea

Hazard
Fabregas - Chelsea
Costa
Kante - Chelsea

Aguero
Silva
B.Silva
Yaya Toure
Laporte

Mane
Van Dijk
Alisson

Tielemans

Neymar
David Villa
Suarez

Benzema
Ronaldo - Madrid
Kroos
Modric
Varane

Zlatan - Inter, Milan, PSG
Thiago Silva - PSG
Verratti
Mbappe

I was thinking utd signings!
Did you have high expectations for DDG? He's certainly been a great signing but I wonder if the fans set the bar so high in his case.

 

[roonster09]

I was thinking utd signings!
Did you have high expectations for DDG? He's certainly been a great signing but I wonder if the fans set the bar so high in his case.

De Gea was very hihgly rated GK at Atletico. Wanted him or Neuer to replace VDS.

 

[MrSingh2002]

Evra - Had flawless games and seasons
Carrick - Lack of physicality rarely showed
Rooney - Had more technical quality than just the strength we saw at Everton
Martial - Had more finishing ability than I saw in him before he joined

 

[arnie_ni]

Mane for liverpool has possibly been one of the signings of the decade, especially when at the time, most of us laughed because we signed mhki for the same money.

 

[Revaulx]

This won’t go down well on here, but I was really pissed off when Fergie signed Young. What? Yet another winger? It’s central midfielders we need! And yet I think he’s been a really good signing; one of the few with the mental toughness and professionalism that’s been sorely lacking in recent seasons.

 

[Gehrman]

This won’t go down well on here, but I was really pissed off when Fergie signed Young. What? Yet another winger? It’s central midfielders we need! And yet I think he’s been a really good signing; one of the few with the mental toughness and professionalism that’s been sorely lacking in recent seasons.

would rather we signed Hazard. We would have got him we payed his agent fee's.

 

[Gehrman]

Mane for liverpool has possibly been one of the signings of the decade, especially when at the time, most of us laughed because we signed mhki for the same money.

Didn't LVG go for him? Why did he turn us down?

 

[simplyared]

Martin Buchan
Roy Keane
Wayne Rooney
Cristiano
Rio

 

[Josep Dowling]

Ronaldo
Van Der Sar
Park Ji Sung
Zlatan
Evra
Vidic

 

[Josep Dowling]

Evra - Had flawless games and seasons
Carrick - Lack of physicality rarely showed
Rooney - Had more technical quality than just the strength we saw at Everton
Martial - Had more finishing ability than I saw in him before he joined

Having a laugh? An 18 year old that cost us over £50m, had some clause in his contract about winning the Ballon D’or and he can barely score double figures a season.

 

[billybee99]

This won’t go down well on here, but I was really pissed off when Fergie signed Young. What? Yet another winger? It’s central midfielders we need! And yet I think he’s been a really good signing; one of the few with the mental toughness and professionalism that’s been sorely lacking in recent seasons.

Ashley Young was a really good signing? Are you taking the piss? He was a horrible signing. As you point out, he was bought as a winger. He was a horrible winger. So horrible in fact, that he was moved to fullback. As a fullback he gave us a couple decent seasons as cover but he has been a liability at FB for a couple of seasons now. I put him down in the column of bad signings by SAF.

 

[Rolaholic]

Mane for liverpool has possibly been one of the signings of the decade, especially when at the time, most of us laughed because we signed mhki for the same money.

So many of us laughed when LVG wanted to sign him from Soton a few years ago thinking he was 'below' our level yet he truly has been one of the best signings of the decade across Europe. 35m pounds for his G+A return and impact is a certifiable coup.

For all the justifiable criticisms about his style, the cranky old Dutchman sure does have a keen eye for talent

 

[Full bodied red]

Van Nistlerooy
Stam
EVdS
Vidic
Evra
Ronaldo

Notice the theme here ? Most of us had never really heard of them until SAF signed them.

And those that we had heard of ?

Keane
Rio
Rooney
RvP

Sure, there were a few ' bombers ' as well, but not too many....

 

[Crashoutcassius]

The grass always looks greener, hence why people that say haaland will score 25 goals next season and sancho is one of the best players in the world already will usually be disappointed and then those players won't make the list.

I saw a youtube video the other day called 'look how good lukaku is at inter milan' and it was just a video of him doing what he did here & what he did at everton

 

[Jacob]

VDS - underwhelming at the time, critical during his tenure
Carrick - unknown for most non-Brits, turned into an underrated cog that made the machinery tick successfully
Romero - barely knew we had signed him, turned out the world's best backup GK imo.
Vidic - who? Truly enjoyed seeing him defend and boss it, and I rarely care for defensive players.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

None recently. Persie did for one season only so had expected more after that. I think you need to go back far if it is a big name. Berbatov was on par I think.

 

[RedRonaldo]

Ronaldo - was hyped when we signed him from Sporting as a unknown young player, thought we got a wonder kid and absolute gem who could be as good as Giggs after watching our friendly match against Sporting, turns out he is even better than Best.

Rooney - we signed him when he was already hyped as generation type of English talent, turns out he really is.

Ferdinard - We paid premium fees for him, the highest fee for defender at that time, just imagine spending 80m on Maguire, and he turns out as good as Van Djik.

VDS - we bought him for the experience and reputation, he gives us more - a CL trophy.

Ruud - He has insane goalscoring stats from Dutch league, and was widely regarded as one of hottest new up and coming striker at that time. Turns out he becomes one of the best striker in Europe.

I didn't have high expectation when we bought Stam, Vidic, Evra, Carrick, De Gea etc at that time, so I didn't include their names here. Van Persie is another one who meet my high expectation, but his good form only last for a season, shorter than what I may have expected, so I didn't include him too.

 

[MrSingh2002]

Having a laugh? An 18 year old that cost us over £50m, had some clause in his contract about winning the Ballon D’or and he can barely score double figures a season.

Tells you that I didn't rate him at all before he signed...

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

would rather we signed Hazard. We would have got him we payed his agent fee's.

Bit of a myth, apparently Joe Cole was a big factor in Lille to sway his mind towards Chelsea.

 

[pacifictheme]

I was thinking utd signings!
Did you have high expectations for DDG? He's certainly been a great signing but I wonder if the fans set the bar so high in his case.

Anyone who had followed spanish football knew how good he was. The british media down played him but hed already 2on golden glove in spain and won thr europa league i believe.

Anyway...

Keane
Carrick
Rooney
Ferdinand
DDG
VDS
RVP
Tevez
Berbatov
Cole
Yorke
Ruud

 

[simplyared]

Anyone who had followed spanish football knew how good he was. The british media down played him but hed already 2on golden glove in spain and won thr europa league i believe.

Anyway...

Keane
Carrick
Rooney
Ferdinand
DDG
VDS
RVP
Tevez
Berbatov
Cole
Yorke
Ruud

Andy Cole was a goal machine for Newcastle. Although he did well for us and built a good partnership with Yorke he didn't come up to the level I was expecting anyway. Like so many others imo. Berbatov had his moments but too seldom and never reached the heights he reached at Spurs. Another disappointment!

 

[Web of Bissaka]

I'm confused. Is it only (1) generally high rated players = high expectations prior to them joining or (2) players depending on what we rate them that exceeded/equalled that expectations?

Because seriously players like Evra, VDS, Carrick and Vidic i've never heard much or not really rated that high before they reached that peak with us. Even CR7 for me isn't really that high, pretty sure Quaresma is rated higher that time. N i only remember DDG as one of the interesting young prospect but not really too much hype for me, his reputation skyrocketed here.

Anyway, going with the former (1) - successful high expectations.

• Rooney - rated highly as a kid, exceed. Surprising.
• RVP - equal
• Zlatan - equal
• RVN - equal
• Rio - exceed, late career is surprisingly impressive before the back injury.

Berbatov just missed out, since I have over over high expectations of him.

So that's about it imo. Just 5 players.

 

[Jaqen H'ghar]

RVN
Ferdinand
Carrick
VDS
RVP
Rooney. He's a special case in that he lived up to his promise as a young player, but watching him at United I felt he could have been even better.

Players signed without hype who were great servants to the the club

Ronaldo
Vidic
Park
Evra
Valencia
Romero

 

[Forevergiggs1]

Vidic without a doubt is the standout for me. Never heard of his name before he came but boy, what a player we signed.

Evra I did hear of before he came but didn't expect as much as he delivered.

Keane everyone of us with a certain age had heard of him before he joined but i never could of expected just how important he became to the club.