Players we signed that turned out to be hopeless

Offsideagain

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I have supported United for six decades and seen many signings that for some reason or another, bombed when they put on the shirt. Here is a short list which I’m sure is not complete. It used to be we’d sign someone who scored against us and such a player is first on the list:

Ted MacDougall 126 goals in 165 appearances for Bournemouth, lasted a season at OT 5 in 18 but missed plenty.

Karen Poborsky. Signed on the basis of a stunner scored in Euro 96. Lasted 18 months.

Gary Birtles, scored for fun with Forest and he dried up for us. Good player though.

Veron, Djemba-Djemba, Bebe, Depay, Di Maria, Mkhitaryan and Sanchez all brilliant before they signed for us with the exception of Bebe of course who was crap.

Many more I left out for you lot to fill in.
 

RedStarUnited

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I know Veron gets abused a lot but I loved that guy. The games he was good he was real good.
 

Minimalist

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Assume you mean 'didn't work out for United'.

Some of those players weren't hopeless after.
 

groovyalbert

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Veron was deemed a bad signing given the high standard of our squad/midfield options. That signing now would be considered a success.

Sanchez deserves more time before lasting judgements are made.

Others that jump to mind immediately are Taibi, Prunier, and Obertan. Unless this thread is about players that came with high expectations but ultimately flopped?
 

el3mel

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About half of the signings we did post Ronaldo selling fell in this category actually , tbh.
 

Member 93275

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RedStarUnited said:
I know Veron gets abused a lot but I loved that guy. The games he was good he was real good.
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I sometimes call a player "a Veron" or doing "a Veron" because for me he's the epitome of an overestimated player who plays visually attractive but actually lacks football intelligence.

An example of doing a Veron: track backwards to help the defense, pick up the ball, mightily charge forward, across midfield, and finally depositing the ball at a forward 10m away, who loses it because the defense tracked back, resulting in a counter-attack, where he is out of position.
Compare to Iniesta: stays in position and lets the defenders do the work, makes himself available for the pass from the back, quickly passes forward to a forward, who shoots at goal because the defense is still out of position.

A ball delivery service doesn't equal good football.
 

spiriticon

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Dong Fangzhuo and Bebe. Lmao

You wonder what Sir Alex was thinking sometimes.
 

Web of Bissaka

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Hopeless here seems to include all the disappointments, rubbish, bad buys, problematic players, injured youngsters who can't make it, players not fulfilling expectations, players not fulfilling their purchase value, average players (ignoring their contributions), etc. Harsh grouping 'em all together and calling them hopeless.
 

Nico87

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Gate99 said:
I sometimes call a player "a Veron" or doing "a Veron" because for me he's the epitome of an overestimated player who plays visually attractive but actually lacks football intelligence.

An example of doing a Veron: track backwards to help the defense, pick up the ball, mightily charge forward, across midfield, and finally depositing the ball at a forward 10m away, who loses it because the defense tracked back, resulting in a counter-attack, where he is out of position.
Compare to Iniesta: stays in position and lets the defenders do the work, makes himself available for the pass from the back, quickly passes forward to a forward, who shoots at goal because the defense is still out of position.

A ball delivery service doesn't equal good football.
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This doesn't describe Veron in the slightest
 

Schneckerl

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groovyalbert said:
Veron was deemed a bad signing given the high standard of our squad/midfield options. That signing now would be considered a success.
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Yeah, I think so too. Better than all the recent big flop signing we've seen. The bar was just set really high by the other utd midfielders.
 

Hound Dog

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Hoof The Ball said:
Mame Diouf! He was supposed the be The One!!! To bring balance to the strikeforce!
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I never quite understood that The One thing. What was all that about?

I am familiar with the rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker but what does that have to do with Diouf?
 

Chairman Steve

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Schneiderlin was a very disappointing signing for me. He had reached his peak level at Soton.

Obertan was a cheap low risk gamble that didn’t pay off, but my god I’ve never seen someone run a ball out of play as much as he did. That Wolfsburg away game was his flash in the pan moment.
 

RedB4ndiT

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Not hopeless but all the City targets that we signed (Alexis and Fred) have been very disappointing.
 

IAmAWinner

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Memphis Depay, considering the hype. Remember fighting Liverpool fans over who got the better signing, us with Memphis or them with Firmino. Was completely out of his depth bar a couple of Europa League games.
Lindelöf, hopeless is the best word that describes him. Should be sold on the 1st of January.
 

POF

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Falcao was an amazing disappointment. I was so excited by that signing. I absolutely loved him as a player at Porto and Atletico. He had an amazing chant. He hit that cracking dipping volley against Leicester that hit the bar. It all looked great . . . . . and then it wasn't.

It was amazing how bad he was. He seemed completely uncoordinated and struggled to stand up at times. It was like he'd put both his contact lenses in the same eye.
 

BigRon1985

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Offsideagain said:
I have supported United for six decades and seen many signings that for some reason or another, bombed when they put on the shirt. Here is a short list which I’m sure is not complete. It used to be we’d sign someone who scored against us and such a player is first on the list:

Ted MacDougall 126 goals in 165 appearances for Bournemouth, lasted a season at OT 5 in 18 but missed plenty.

Karen Poborsky. Signed on the basis of a stunner scored in Euro 96. Lasted 18 months.

Gary Birtles, scored for fun with Forest and he dried up for us. Good player though.

Veron, Djemba-Djemba, Bebe, Depay, Di Maria, Mkhitaryan and Sanchez all brilliant before they signed for us with the exception of Bebe of course who was crap.

Many more I left out for you lot to fill in.
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People are rightly outraged at the 350K plus a week that Sanchez earns but Gary Birtles was on a whopping £500 a week at United back in 1980 which was the highest wage in the old 1st division and he couldn’t hit a barn door! 1 goal in 32 games I think it was. He’d have made Sanchez look prolific :eek:
 
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Bocca9978

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The list could be a long one.

Di Maria? Maybe the Rafael twins. Was really disappointed with them.
 

Robbo's Shoulder

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Class of 63 said:
Some players just can't hack playing for Manchester United, it's just how it is, no need to name and shame.
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Agree with this, the weight of expection is huge at a club like United. You could look at any massive club and find a load of signings that failed, it's not just a United thing
 
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