| Position/Year | 12-13 | 13-14 | 14-15 | 15-16 | 16-17 | 17-18 | 18-19 | 19-20 | 20-21 | 21-22 | 22-23 | 23-24* |
| Manager | SAF | Moyes Giggs | LVG | LVG | Mourinho | Mourinho | Mourinho Ole | Ole | Ole | Ole Carrick Rangnick | ETH | ETH |
| GK | DDG Lindegaard | DDG* Lindegaard | DDG* Valdes | DDG* Romero | DDG* Romero | DDG | DDG | DDG | DDG Henderson | DDG | DDG | Onana* |
| RB | Rafael | Valencia Rafael | Valencia Rafael | Darmian Valencia | Valencia Darmian | Valencia Darmian | Young Dalot Darmian | AWB Williams | AWB | AWB Dalot | Dalot AWB | Dalot AWB |
| CB | Rio* Vidic* Evans Smalling Jones | Vidic Jones Evans Smalling Rio | Jones Smalling Rojo Evans McNair | Smalling Rojo Jones McNair TFM | Bailly Rojo Jones Smalling Tuanzebe | Smalling Jones Lindelof Bailly Rojo | Smalling Lindelof Jones Bailly | Maguire Lindelof | Maguire Lindelof Bailly Tuanzebe | Maguire Lindelof Varane | Licha* Varane Lindelof Maguire | Maguire Evans Lindelof Varane |
| LB | Evra* Buttner | Evra Buttner | Blind Shaw Blackett | Blind CBJ Shaw | Blind Shaw | Young Shaw | Shaw | Shaw* Young | Shaw Telles | Shaw Telles | Shaw* Malacia | Shaw Reguilon |
| DM | Carrick* | Carrick* | Carrick | Carrick Schneiderlin | Carrick | Matic* McTominay | Matic Fred McTominay | Matic | Matic | Matic | Casemiro* | Casemiro Amarabat |
| CM | Cleverley Anderson | Cleverley Fellaini Fletcher | Herrera Fellaini | Herrera Fellaini Schweinsteiger | Pogba* Herrera* Fellaini | Pogba* Herrera Fellaini | Pogba Herrera Fellaini | Fred McT Pogba | Fred McT Pogba | Fred McT Pogba | Fred McT Sabitzer | McT Mainoo |
| CAM | Scholes Kagawa | Mata* Kagawa | Mata Di Maria | Mata | Mata | Mata | Mata Pereira | Fernandes* Pereira Mata | Fernandes* VDB Mata | Fernandes | Eriksen Fernandes | Fernandes Eriksen Mount |
| RW | Valencia Nani | Young Nani Zaha | Young | Young Lingard | Mkhi Rashford Young | Mkhi Lingard | Lingard | Rashford* Lingard | Greenwood James | Greenwood Elanga | Antony Elanga | Antony |
| LW | Young Giggs | Januzaj Giggs | Januzaj | Martial* Depay | Martial Lingard | Alexis* Martial | Martial Alexis* | James | Rashford | Sancho* Rashford | Sancho Martial Garnacho | Rashford Garnacho |
| CF | RVP* Rooney* Chicha Welbeck | RVP Rooney Chicha Welbeck | Rooney RVP Falcao Wilson | Rooney Rashford | Zlatan* Rooney | Lukaku* Rashford | Lukaku Rashford | Martial Greenwood* Ighalo | Martial Cavani | CR7 Cavani | Rashford* Weghorst CR7 | Hojlund Martial |
Bold Green *: World Class
Bold Green: Very Good for PL
Green: Good/Consistent for PL
Blue: Average/Inconsistent for PL
Red: Poor for PL
Bold Red: Very bad for PL
Bold Red *: Absolutely Terrible
Of course, this is my recollection of our squad since SAF. I'm absolutely certain I am remembering certain players' forms very differently from reality, or left out certain players altogether, or got the positions wrong (especially across the front four - where player positions have been flexible). But what I'd like is to provide a bird's eye view of how every part of the squad has shockingly been worse despite our investment.
CF: We never managed to have a player like RVP again, forget the partnership he had with Rooney (and Chicha had a lot of goals in SAF's last season, too). That was our peak, and bar the one year each with Zlatan and Ronaldo, we never managed to replace our strikers - even one of them properly. How you spend so much and not get a Haaland or a Kane is beyond me.
LW/RW: One promising season of Januzaj, and after that it has been sporadic form from Martial, Rashford, and Greenwood. Barring last season from Rashford, none of those have been truly top tier either.
With the front three so neglected, where did we expect our goals to come from? Money/time wasted on Mkhitaryan, Depay, Sanchez, James, Lingard, Sancho, and now Antony. For now Garnacho seems like he may have some promise, but there's nothing to indicate that he won't fizzle away like Januzaj given how all players deteriorate at Old Trafford.
Midfield: I think we've had only one season of consistently good midfield performances across the last decade - the Matic-Pogba-Herrera combo under Jose. Matic was too old to sustain that, and Casemiro is too injured now to build around. We seem to buy and kill CAMs because we don't know how to balance a midfield around them, as seen with Kagawa, Mata, and now Bruno.
Defence: I don't know what to make of the defence, my recollection seems poor, but Maguire/Lindelof under early Ole and Licha/Varane under ETH last year are the only good CB pairings I can remember. Looking back, I feel bad for Rojo, Bailly, and Smalling - we never got them a good partner to have a chance.
GK - After a decade of DDG, who was bad towards the end, Onana seems even worse in his first season, as seen in the CL and some PL games. I don't know if he improves too much from here.
Each little section of poor transfers can be attributed to the manager at the time, sure, but who answers for the decade?