Bruno is the main one. Remember losing to Burnley I think it was. We signed Bruno then went unbeaten all season I think. Or for a long period of time. Martinez seems a decent signing but been hit by injuries so yet to see him for a longer period of time. Casemiro I’m gonna say purely on last seasons form, when he came in he completely transformed our midfield and you could just see how important it is to have a solid DM. Shaws probably the other one for me… although he gets injured a lot when he’s inform he’s one of the best LB in the league.
Our 4 best transfers post Fergie and what we can learn from them
- Thread starter Scandi Red
- Start date
I mean...it's not though. Pogba was shite. Herrera was shite. I'm amazed people are clinging to other opinions on them! With Herrera at least he put a shift in so I can understand people defending him I suppose. Pogba was an overpriced, overrated geebag though
Pogba was shite. Herrera really was not. He wasn't prime Casemiro but he was one of our better players.
He was our POTY in 2016/2017, shit indeed.
That’s a depressing top 4. Even Luke Shaw has had issues with Van Gaal, Mourinho and an extensive injury history.
I’d argue Mata, Blind, Bruno and Lindelof were all good and sensible transfers for players who delivered value. If you include the freebies, then add Zlatan, Eriksen and Romero.
I’d argue Mata, Blind, Bruno and Lindelof were all good and sensible transfers for players who delivered value. If you include the freebies, then add Zlatan, Eriksen and Romero.
That's a horrible list. It says the transfer strategy needs a complete overhaul.
Sorry, but in terms of fee, player’s salary, years of service and role in the squad, I think nobody did a better job post SAF than Sergio Romero. 
Crazy Mata is getting so many mentions, absolutely appalling signing.
He was a a very good servant for the club and a stable players for several years. The only issue is that he overstayed his welcome. He was done by 2018. His 2017/2018 season was bad, and post it he became mostly irrelevant but we persisted with keeping him at the club. Ignoring this period and just focusing on the 2014-2017 period, he did really well. Not magnificent but very good.
Side note I think Fred also is worth a mention here. Was a very good signing everything considered.
We abused Mata. Signed in when we had Rooney as a 10.
80m for Bruno? Wasn't he 45m with add ons going to 55m or 60m?
Ibra and cavani were both good signings too.
Ibra and cavani were both good signings too.
Bowen
I never got the Herrera love in.
He was like a poor man's Nicky Butt to me.
He was like a poor man's Nicky Butt to me.
Yeah, that's the key point. Most of our incomings have been basically good to decent players, but there has been no properly thought out plan in place to guide recruitment. Consequently we've had a bunch of disparate managers and their individual preferences, buying who they fancy without any structural shape to put them into. Its been, rather obviously, a disaster.
On the positive side, hopefully it should not be too difficult to fix in the future, if a director of football and an agreed pattern for the club and its style is put in place by competent management, which INEOS could potentially drive. We need a scouting department that will look into the character of possible recruits and ensure they fit into the shape of the team in social and psychological terms, too, so that players feel part of something larger.
It may sound complex but it should be simple enough to do, just so long as it is managed coherently and on a sustained basis.
Here's hoping.
I never understood what happened with Mata. At Chelsea he looked like one of the most dangerous players in the league but when we signed him he never even remotely looked as dangerous as he did for them.
Some of the mentions here show how the standards have dropped and how the acceptance level of mediocrity has become the norm. The only players that would have gotten into the great United sides that Fergie built are in my opinion: - based on their performances for us are: Shaw, Martinez, Bruno, Casemiro, Zlatan. That's it.
Nah.. he was not that good ..
Would Chelsea let him go if he was good ?
He had too many flaws in his flaws to his game ..
W
Agreed. I think he's a player Fergie would have loved. He was a great box to box midfielder but he suffered from being played in DM at times and wasn't suited to LvG's robotic system (being told off for scoring a goal that won the game). Reasons why I personally liked him - his passing was progressive - he was a workhorse on the pitch. People seem to love Fred, but for me Herrera did everything fred did but better and didn't have the extreme lows that fred did, or the huge flaws to his game. Also, he actually got what it meant to be a United player and you can tell he actually did love playing for us.
Chelsea let KDB and Salah go.. It's not a big deal.
He wasn't world class but he was definitely one of the few key good players we had in this awful period, and one of the most consistent at least.
Herrera wasn't even a nailed starter in 3 of his 4 seasons here but somehow he is one of the best 4 transfers of the last 10 years.
It says more about the transfers than it does Herrera. In a SAF squad he'd have played the role of a Butt/Fletcher/Alan Smith - useful squad player. Instead we was wasted in a midfield 2 alongside Pogba.
Even if you expect to win the league every year (stupid, huh?), you would be able to recognize the team coming in 2nd, 3rd and 4th, while not being perfect to your high standard, wiould have a few players every year who played really well.
Some United fans just can’t recognize that about their own players. They love the club so much, yes, but they’ve become blinkered. I’ve had nights like that, sure. But I think I can recognize that even in the teams that Van Gaal came third with, Mourinho second with, Solskjær second with and Ten Hag third with, there where some players in there doing a very good job.
Even with league winners, you have players having a good season, a bad season, a medium season. I think we have a tendency to sort out players by their worst patch and compare them to the best players in the world. But even Fergie didn’t use to have 22 world beaters every year.
Players like Paul Pogba was disappointing, frustrating and a good riddance in the end. Still, many of his performances here, Fergie would have taken them in a heart beat, placed him between Keane and Scholes and won a league, a few years later he’d be sold like a Jaap Stam eithout fanfare, still being remembered like an all time great.
Bruno under Fergie would rate as a classic Fergie coup.
Some United fans just can’t recognize that about their own players. They love the club so much, yes, but they’ve become blinkered. I’ve had nights like that, sure. But I think I can recognize that even in the teams that Van Gaal came third with, Mourinho second with, Solskjær second with and Ten Hag third with, there where some players in there doing a very good job.
Even with league winners, you have players having a good season, a bad season, a medium season. I think we have a tendency to sort out players by their worst patch and compare them to the best players in the world. But even Fergie didn’t use to have 22 world beaters every year.
Players like Paul Pogba was disappointing, frustrating and a good riddance in the end. Still, many of his performances here, Fergie would have taken them in a heart beat, placed him between Keane and Scholes and won a league, a few years later he’d be sold like a Jaap Stam eithout fanfare, still being remembered like an all time great.
Bruno under Fergie would rate as a classic Fergie coup.
Yeah
Aye, such a nothing footballer who blagged it with passion.
Regarding the fee, Fellaini should be on this list too.
It's a pretty damming list. I'd agree wth Shaw as a long term success, I know he's had injuries but we've had a nearly a decade from him and he's still one of our best players. The other 3 all have question marks against them for me but best of a bad bunch of longer term signings.
Best - Zlatan
Worst - Antony
Worst - Antony
Did Bruno not cost much less than that? I thought it was around £50 million. Inflation has been worse than I thought if its 80 now.
But I'd agree. Signings over 100 million rarely ever work out and most have been definite failures. City's approach of very good players around 30-70 million is way better than aiming for >80 million superstars and its better to aim for players in the mid to early 20s than past-it superstars as we do.
I agree with you 100%.
The same player's under Fergie would have struggled at this United too.
Same. Bang average
Barring Bruno, none of them have been a true game changer for us. Shaw is half of the time injured. Herrera is massively overhyped. Martinez is going towards the direction of Shaw.
And people mentioning the likes of Mata and Felliani are just wum.
And people mentioning the likes of Mata and Felliani are just wum.
I liked Herrera. He'd make my list for top 4 signings, ahead of Mata. Could make a case for Zlatan or Martinez, but it depends what significance you give to length of service. I think he'd have been more appreciated if he'd played under a manager who had us pressing high up the pitch. He wasn't individually brilliant, but he was good technically for a ball winner, and a very useful cog in the right machine. Van Gaal changed approach virtually every game but I seem to remember the great run we went on around Juanfield was with Herrera RCM in a 433, and Ole's brief purple patch Herrera stood out in the same role. He never looked as good in a 4231, or under Jose in general. Bar that mental performance against Chelsea where he man marked Hazard and got a goal and assist.
Ibra would have to be one of the best with the contribution he had when he played.
I think some have gone over the top on Lisandro but that is common on here.
I think some have gone over the top on Lisandro but that is common on here.
Bruno was £83M? Really?
Adjusted for inflation. Crypto bull market inflation.
Pretty sure the Sancho deal was just the media running the stories until the club convinced themselves it was their idea all along. We had no real links to him until Ole started his pro-english players bullshit and the media started linking us to every young English player that wasn't at any of the big clubs.
Ibra, that's about it.
opens the thread
If Ander Herrera isn't here I'm going to go completely ballistic
sees Ander Herrera named
Ok you and me are gonna get along nicely @Scandi Red .
Bruno Fernandes is the obvious other option, but I'd make a case for Zlatan Ibrahimovic being my third, and Juan Mata my fourth, particularly given the context of his signing. He gave us everything, and was utterly wasted by a great many of our managers, think he only ever played 10 a handful of times and whenever he did looked world class only to never play there again.
I don't think I'm particularly happy with any of our other signings.. and I do mean ANY of our other signings. The juries still out on Lisandro Martinez. I am secretly hopeful that Onana has just had a Vidic/Evra esque start to his career and one day we will look back and say what a good signing he was with hindsight.
If Ander Herrera isn't here I'm going to go completely ballistic
sees Ander Herrera named
Ok you and me are gonna get along nicely @Scandi Red .
Bruno Fernandes is the obvious other option, but I'd make a case for Zlatan Ibrahimovic being my third, and Juan Mata my fourth, particularly given the context of his signing. He gave us everything, and was utterly wasted by a great many of our managers, think he only ever played 10 a handful of times and whenever he did looked world class only to never play there again.
I don't think I'm particularly happy with any of our other signings.. and I do mean ANY of our other signings. The juries still out on Lisandro Martinez. I am secretly hopeful that Onana has just had a Vidic/Evra esque start to his career and one day we will look back and say what a good signing he was with hindsight.
Good post.
I think people can be so extreme in their views. Of course we haven't signed 40-50 players for the amount that we have with NONE of them being United quality. That would be insane.
Yes, we have been poor in the transfer market. There's no way around that. But at the same time, there is good reason to believe that some of the players (also some that I didn't mention) would have been highly successful under Fergie, Ancelotti, Klopp and Pep. The circumstances matter.
Herrera alongside Mata, is a very overrated player for this club. Pogba was better than both. Fred too was better than Herrera.