If you could sign 5 attainable players during Fergie era, who would you go for ?

kaku06

Full Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2022
Messages
2,311
Just a thought, who would they be and how it would affect or prolong our dominance in the league and in Europe ? The key is they should be attainable. For e.g we couldn’t have signed Maldini from Milan or Henry from Arsenal no matter what but we could have signed Hazard from Lille if we had paid agent fees or Zidane from Bordeaux, you get the point. How it would have impacted the Fergie years or even post Fergie ? Would love to know from fellow caf members.

My 5 would be

Ronaldinho from PSG (2003)- probably the most heart broken I have been by a transfer. Even to this day I still think what could have been. Would have made us the most feared team in Europe.

Zlatan (2006) - After Ruud, would have been perfect for us.

Modric (2008) - would solve the midfield problem for years.

Robben (2009) - in a deal plus cash for Ronaldo from Madrid. Would be amazing for us.

Aguero (2011) - we would be set for a decade and that cnut moment wouldn’t have occurred.


Of course there are many more I could have gone for but I’m content with our team and our success pre noughties and also the fact that Modric, Aguero, Robben would have continued to carry us post Fergie too. What are your choices ? Zidane ? Shearer ? Seedorf , Ronaldo phenomeno (maybe), Nedved ? Hazard ? and how it would see us fare in league and in Europe ? Are there any set of signings that could have made us even more dominant in the league or assert our dominance on the continent and would have won more European cups ?
 
Last edited:

JPRouve

can't stop thinking about balls - NOT deflategate
Scout
Joined
Jan 31, 2014
Messages
65,354
Location
France
Apologies, I mean Henry. His name is stuck in my head like that due to his pronunciation. :D
Let me correct it.
I'm intringued by this one, how is the pronunciation anywhere near O'Henry. :lol:
 

MayfieldsFinest

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Sep 3, 2021
Messages
189
Van de Sar when Schmeichel left.
Zidane when he was at Bordeaux.
Aguero
Cannavaro from Parma
Duff from Blackburn.
 

Chipper

Adulterer.
Joined
Oct 25, 2017
Messages
5,467
Hard to say with stuff like this, and I know this is boring but I end up thinking who we might not have signed if we did get certain players. Do we still sign Ronaldo if we already bought Ronaldinho that same summer for example? Or maybe we don't go for Rooney a year later. I personally liked Tevez's time here, some love Berbatov, might not have seen either of them if signing Ibrahimovic. No van Persie if we got Aguero?

Things might have worked out better but I loved Fergie's time so much here that I wouldn't want to mess with anything too much.
 

JPRouve

can't stop thinking about balls - NOT deflategate
Scout
Joined
Jan 31, 2014
Messages
65,354
Location
France
Buffon from Parma
Thuram from Parma
Makélélé from Celta Vigo
Robben from PSV
Ronaldo from PSV

Four young players and then Makélélé after he cemented his role as a water carrier.
 

kaku06

Full Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2022
Messages
2,311
Buffon from Parma
Thuram from Parma
Makélélé from Celta Vigo
Robben from PSV
Ronaldo from PSV

Four young players and then Makélélé after he cemented his role as a water carrier.
Like it but Ronaldo from PSV might feck up the treble season certainly the way it happened. You want that :nervous: ?
 

JPRouve

can't stop thinking about balls - NOT deflategate
Scout
Joined
Jan 31, 2014
Messages
65,354
Location
France
Like it but Ronaldo from PSV might feck up the treble season certainly in the way it happened. You want that :nervous: ?
Or it might be the catalyst for 3 or 4 CL titles. And made United a destination for top brazilian talents.
 

Oranges038

Full Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2020
Messages
11,788
Shearer - would have scored well over 300 PL goals

Batistuta - him and Shearer together would have been great, goals from all angles.

Del Piero - dropping off behind with those two up top. Unstoppable in attack.

Nedved - just for the pile drivers.

Ronaldinho - was totally sickened when he didn't join. What a player.
 

sun_tzu

The Art of Bore
Joined
Aug 23, 2010
Messages
19,536
Location
Still waiting for the Youthquake
Lewendowski from dortmund... We were strongly linked before we got rvp

Modric to succeed scholes

Robben when he went to Chelsea

Batistuta when he went to Roma (well ideally about 5 seasons before )

Shearer when he went to blackburn
 

Giggsy13

Full Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2016
Messages
4,243
Location
Toronto
David Silva (before he went to city)
Modric (arguably before he went to Spurs)
Yaya Toure (the Barca outcast)
Aguero
Hazard

I was fine missing out on players in the late 90s and early 2000s, it happens. But the failure to respond when Ronaldo was sold cost us dearly. fecking glazers.
 

Invictus

Poster of the Year 2015 & 2018
Staff
Joined
Mar 22, 2014
Messages
15,230
Supports
Piracy on the High Seas.
  • Alan Shearer from Southampton in 1992. Would have been as significant for United as Raúl for Madrid or del Piero for Juventus. Rooney would replace him in 2004.
  • Lilian Thuram from Monaco in 1996. What's not to like? 24 years old, could play fullback or centerback at an elite level at the peak of his powers, and emerged as a strong leader. Vidić would replace him in 2006.
  • Andriy Shevchenko from Dynamo Kyiv in 1997. To replace Cantona, basically. Yorke had an outstanding but short-lived peak; Shevchenko was world-class for close to a decade. Last fella on this list would eventually replace him.
  • Luka Modrić from Dinamo Zagreb in 2008. The heir to Scholes' throne in midfield and the near-perfect complement to Carrick, plucked directly from the Croatian league.
  • Karim Benzema from Lyon in 2008. A year before he joined Madrid; recently extended with Lyon, but what if he was receptive to an “offer that could not be refused”?
The late '90s to early 2000s team as well as late 2000s team (both of which did very well in continental competitions) would look a bit different with these signings, to say the least; maybe we would win a few more European Cups?
 

kaku06

Full Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2022
Messages
2,311
  • Alan Shearer from Southampton in 1992. Would have been as significant for United as Raúl for Madrid or del Piero for Juventus. Rooney would replace him in 2004.
  • Lilian Thuram from Monaco in 1996. What's not to like? 24 years old, could play fullback or centerback at an elite level at the peak of his powers, and emerged as a strong leader. Vidić would replace him in 2006.
  • Andriy Shevchenko from Dynamo Kyiv in 1997. To replace Cantona, basically. Yorke had an outstanding but short-lived peak; Shevchenko was world-class for close to a decade. Last fella on this list would eventually replace him.
  • Luka Modrić from Dinamo Zagreb in 2008. The heir to Scholes' throne in midfield and the near-perfect complement to Carrick, plucked directly from the Croatian league.
  • Karim Benzema from Lyon in 2008. A year before he joined Madrid; recently extended with Lyon, but what if he was receptive to an “offer that could not be refused”?
The late '90s to early 2000s team as well as late 2000s team (both of which did very well in continental competitions) would look a bit different with these signings, to say the least; maybe we would win a few more European Cups?
So well thought out and well put. You should be in charge instead of viserys targeryan when it comes to succession.
 

Skills

Snitch
Joined
Jan 17, 2012
Messages
42,010
  • Alan Shearer from Southampton in 1992. Would have been as significant for United as Raúl for Madrid or del Piero for Juventus. Rooney would replace him in 2004.
  • Lilian Thuram from Monaco in 1996. What's not to like? 24 years old, could play fullback or centerback at an elite level at the peak of his powers, and emerged as a strong leader. Vidić would replace him in 2006.
  • Andriy Shevchenko from Dynamo Kyiv in 1997. To replace Cantona, basically. Yorke had an outstanding but short-lived peak; Shevchenko was world-class for close to a decade. Last fella on this list would eventually replace him.
  • Luka Modrić from Dinamo Zagreb in 2008. The heir to Scholes' throne in midfield and the near-perfect complement to Carrick, plucked directly from the Croatian league.
  • Karim Benzema from Lyon in 2008. A year before he joined Madrid; recently extended with Lyon, but what if he was receptive to an “offer that could not be refused”?
The late '90s to early 2000s team as well as late 2000s team (both of which did very well in continental competitions) would look a bit different with these signings, to say the least; maybe we would win a few more European Cups?
Yeah this. Arjen Robben in 2009 as part of the Ronaldo deal is the other option. A front 3 of Nani, Rooney & Robben to take us through the last few years of Fergies years could've been devastating for us.


----Nani ---- Rooney ---- Robben
-----------Fletcher --- Modric
----------------------Carrick

That might have given us a shot at a smash and grab against Barcelona - especially in the first final.
 

V.O.

Last Man Standing finalist 2019/20
Joined
Jan 12, 2019
Messages
7,847
Based on vaguely gettable seeming players who I'd have liked to see in a United shirt moreso than who might have been the best for us:

Batistuta (1998, instead of Yorkie)
Ayala (2002ish, to partner Rio)
Essien (2005, to replace Keane)
Dani Alves (2007ish while Neville was winding down - Liverpool and Chelsea had the chance to sign him for peanuts around this time)
David Villa (2009, instead of Owen/Valencia)
 

bringbackbebe

Full Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2021
Messages
1,648
Ronaldinho
Robben
Paolo Di Canio
Bale from Southampton
Aaron Ramsey (quite serious about this)
 

kthanksbye

Full Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2014
Messages
1,503
Apart from the obvious names, I really wished we had signed Vidal in 2011 and put him next to Carrick. That's the kind of player we had been missing during those days.
 

CarbonStoolBites

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Apr 23, 2022
Messages
584
I wouldn’t change anything about the treble team, it was a magical side.
I would focus on the early-mid 00’s.

Juan Carlos Valeron (Deportivo)
Xabi Alonso (Real Sociedad)
Juan Pablo Sorin (Cruzeiro)
Sol Campbell (Tottenham)
Samuel Eto'o (Mallorca)
 

Siorac

Full Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2010
Messages
23,789
Shearer would have given us an extra CL or two in my humble opinion.
I see this claim often but I don't think he would have made that much of a difference. I could be convinced about 1997 - those frustrating semi-finals against Dortmund might have turned out differently if it had been Shearer instead of Cole up front.

But for most of the 90s our issues in the CL were down to tactics/organisation, not finishing.
 

Neil_Buchanan

Cock'd
Joined
Nov 18, 2006
Messages
3,534
Location
Bolton
How about Gascoine? He’d be near the top of Fergies list, has spoken a few times of him as the one that got away.
 

RedDevilRoshi

Full Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2017
Messages
13,180
Aguero (2011 from Atletico Madrid)
De Bruyne (2012 from Genk)
Modric (2008 from Dinamo Zagreb)
David Silva (2010 from Valencia)
Javi Martinez (2012 from Athletic Bilbao)
 

Skills

Snitch
Joined
Jan 17, 2012
Messages
42,010
I see this claim often but I don't think he would have made that much of a difference. I could be convinced about 1997 - those frustrating semi-finals against Dortmund might have turned out differently if it had been Shearer instead of Cole up front.

But for most of the 90s our issues in the CL were down to tactics/organisation, not finishing.
Having the type of firepower a forward of Shearers quality changes the whole equation I think.
 

Rojofiam

Full Member
Joined
May 11, 2017
Messages
3,010
Robben, Sneijder, Benzema, Modric, Hazard, Yaya Touré, David Silva
 

tomaldinho1

Full Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2015
Messages
17,374
Apologies, I mean Henry. His name is stuck in my head like that due to his pronunciation. :D
Let me correct it.
Hahah I get exactly how this sounds, almost like a tiny 'urgh' followed by Henry

Modric, Shearer, Robben, Batigol, Zola

Also Riquelme, I used to love him as a kid although I suspect he wouldn't have been as great in the Prem.
 

Siorac

Full Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2010
Messages
23,789
Having the type of firepower a forward of Shearers quality changes the whole equation I think.
I'm not convinced it does. None of the CL winners during Shearer's prime had that sort of dominant number nine. Shearer's best seasons were between 1993 and 1997. Look at the teams who won the trophy in that period:

1994 - AC Milan, destroying that Barcelona dream team. That team was obviously built on their defence as opposed to firepower.
1995 - Ajax. Their top goalscorer in the CL was Jari Litmanen, a technically brilliant, creative deep-lying forward.
1996 - Juventus. Their top scorer was Del Piero, another technically brilliant, creative deep-lying forward.

1997 I already admitted he might have helped against Dortmund. But overall - Shearer was excellent but he was an old-school, traditional English centre-forward. And the style that suited his strengths the most wasn't particularly successful in Europe in that era. I don't think Shearer would have made us a much better team, frankly. Just like how we were a better side both before and after Van Nistelrooy, as great as he was.
 

PeteManic

Full Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2012
Messages
2,152
The serious ones would be Van Der Sar in 1999 and Ferdinand a year earlier in 2001 as soon as Stam was sold. United would have won at least one more CL in that 1999-2003 era.

Everyone will probably say Shearer, but that might well have just kept the 4-4-2 era going longer. Who knows?

Going back further the one serious player that Fergie missed out on was Gazza. But I'm sure he would have been gone by the time Scholes and everyone came through.