Post Fergie signings that improved during their time at the club?

BusbyMalone

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No doubt some of our recruitment has been piss poor, but I also think it’s a case of poor coaching as much as it is about player recruitment; this club has been under-coached for years. Looking at the list of players below, how many can you say have legitimately improved during their time here? Because, in my opinion, there seems to be a pattern of regression from a lot of these players as we’re currently seeing with AWB and Maguire.

Luke Shaw was on a positive path before his leg break, and to be fair to him I think he has improved overall while still being prone to having periods of really bad form. Could you make a case for Lindelof? Maybe. I can’t think of too many more. Herrera, perhaps? Fernandes has obviously been excellent for us, but not sure how much that has got to do with United improving him. Maybe you think they have. I’m not sure on that one.

This is not a question of how many of these players were good signings, necessarily, but more about how they progressed during their time at the club.


Juan Mata
Marouane Fellaini
Angel di Maria
Luke Shaw
Ander Herrera
Marco Rojo
Daley Blind
Radamel Falcao
Anthony Martial
Morgan Schneiderlin
Memphis Depay
Matteo Darmian
Bastian Schweinsteiger
Sergio Romero
Paul Pogba
Henrick Miktarian
Eric Bailly
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Romelu Lukaku
Nemanja Matić
Victor Lindelof
Alexis Sanchez
Fred
Diogo Dalot
Harry Maguire
Bruno Fernandes
Aaron Wan Bissaka
Daniel James
Donny van de Beek
Amad Diallo
Alex Telles
Edison Cavani
Jadon Sancho
Raphael Varane
Cristiano Ronaldo
 

Thelongsleevesofblomqvist

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That´s a lot of signings. What a crazy good squad that would be if they were all at their peak. Or wait - only Varane out of the defenders were ever truly elite.
 

Dolf

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I would say Shaw and Lindelof slightly improved. Dalot improved during his loan so can't take credit for that. Depressing when you think about it...
 

Oranges038

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As expected - Not one of them.

Improved in any way- Not one of them
 

Thelongsleevesofblomqvist

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I think you are right. I would say Lindelöf has progressed and Fernandes has partly flourished but unclear if he was already on that level when he came. Fred has become more stable, but anyhow never lived up to the expected level when first signing him. Shaw, but he came as a teenager. The pattern of regression is quite clear.

Zlatan obviously kept his high standards though ageing.
 

tomaldinho1

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Ibra was good for us, not sure he improved though given his age.

Shaw is probably the only one and with him it's the question of would he have been a better player elsewhere. Hard not to improve coming here as a teenager.
 

ShinjiNinja26

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It’s not only the signings we’ve made but not also the youth players we’ve brought through the academy seem to regress as well after making a bright start when they first come into the team.
 

TsuWave

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United has been a graveyard for good players, for a minute

as a side note, we seem to bulk players up and make them stiff
 

GlasgowCeltic

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And to be fair it's not til you get to Ole's signings that you see a few that you could imagine Fergie making
 

Buster15

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Dolf said:
I would say Shaw and Lindelof slightly improved. Dalot improved during his loan so can't take credit for that. Depressing when you think about it...
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Luke Shaw joined United when he was fairly young from Southampton. So you would expect that level of improvement.
 

Kaos

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Out of that list, I'd say only Bruno took it up a level (on his first 1.5 seasons that is), this season he's obviously been subpar but the whole teams been a mess.

The rest were either over the hill, poorly coached, a poor fit, or simply not good enough and seemingly grossly overrated by our scouts.

If anything it just highlights how hopeless our scouting and transfer strategy has been under Woodward.
 

Lee565

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Only ones I can think of is mctominay (youth), maybe lindelof and shaw but both debatable. If that doesn't prove that the blame is not the players but the awful or lack of structure and vision at the club. Even our youth system does not look as promising as the past decades and will probably get worse at this rate as well.
 

UpWithRivers

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Thats why I said half jokingly in another thread that we're cursed. Nothing has gone right. Nothing. You would think that at least one of those players would step up but they haven't. You could also add the managers (except Ole but he had no reputation before he came so he couldnt go much lower). Yes in hindsight the managers were sht but at the time we signed them they had good reputations and everyone thought they were the right signings. They came to United and were fkd. No wonder Zidane is like ummm no thanks. You can also add players like De Gea. Probably our best player over that period but he also slumped and people want him out. Even now on form people think we need a sweeper keeper etc. Yes there has been a few ups and yes some players have played well. But its all been in spurts. Who from first teamers to youth to management to anyone in the club has performed week in week out, season after season. Who would you bet your house on performing over a consistent period and not all of a sudden turn to sht? No one.
And you can say its coaching but players from lower leagues and clubs still manage it. You can say its the Glaziers but thats a sht load of cash spent and again clubs with less money have managed to perform better. What is it then?
 

Luke1995

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Herrera the only one I can think of that showed improvement. He had moments of inconsistency but overall, was the best of that list.
 

Blood Mage

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I think Blind and Herrera became better players here but that's about it.
 

choccy77

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BusbyMalone said:
No doubt some of our recruitment has been piss poor, but I also think it’s a case of poor coaching as much as it is about player recruitment; this club has been under-coached for years. Looking at the list of players below, how many can you say have legitimately improved during their time here? Because, in my opinion, there seems to be a pattern of regression from a lot of these players as we’re currently seeing with AWB and Maguire.

Luke Shaw was on a positive path before his leg break, and to be fair to him I think he has improved overall while still being prone to having periods of really bad form. Could you make a case for Lindelof? Maybe. I can’t think of too many more. Herrera, perhaps? Fernandes has obviously been excellent for us, but not sure how much that has got to do with United improving him. Maybe you think they have. I’m not sure on that one.

This is not a question of how many of these players were good signings, necessarily, but more about how they progressed during their time at the club.


Juan Mata
Marouane Fellaini
Angel di Maria
Luke Shaw
Ander Herrera
Marco Rojo
Daley Blind
Radamel Falcao
Anthony Martial
Morgan Schneiderlin
Memphis Depay
Matteo Darmian
Bastian Schweinsteiger
Sergio Romero
Paul Pogba
Henrick Miktarian
Eric Bailly
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Romelu Lukaku
Nemanja Matić
Victor Lindelof
Alexis Sanchez
Fred
Diogo Dalot
Harry Maguire
Bruno Fernandes
Aaron Wan Bissaka
Daniel James
Donny van de Beek
Amad Diallo
Alex Telles
Edison Cavani
Jadon Sancho
Raphael Varane
Cristiano Ronaldo
Click to expand...
A lot of of those improved their bank balance.
 

Nevilles.Wear.Prada

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BusbyMalone said:
No doubt some of our recruitment has been piss poor, but I also think it’s a case of poor coaching as much as it is about player recruitment; this club has been under-coached for years. Looking at the list of players below, how many can you say have legitimately improved during their time here? Because, in my opinion, there seems to be a pattern of regression from a lot of these players as we’re currently seeing with AWB and Maguire.

Luke Shaw was on a positive path before his leg break, and to be fair to him I think he has improved overall while still being prone to having periods of really bad form. Could you make a case for Lindelof? Maybe. I can’t think of too many more. Herrera, perhaps? Fernandes has obviously been excellent for us, but not sure how much that has got to do with United improving him. Maybe you think they have. I’m not sure on that one.

This is not a question of how many of these players were good signings, necessarily, but more about how they progressed during their time at the club.


Juan Mata
Marouane Fellaini
Angel di Maria
Luke Shaw
Ander Herrera
Marco Rojo
Daley Blind
Radamel Falcao
Anthony Martial
Morgan Schneiderlin
Memphis Depay
Matteo Darmian
Bastian Schweinsteiger
Sergio Romero
Paul Pogba
Henrick Miktarian
Eric Bailly
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Romelu Lukaku
Nemanja Matić
Victor Lindelof
Alexis Sanchez
Fred
Diogo Dalot
Harry Maguire
Bruno Fernandes
Aaron Wan Bissaka
Daniel James
Donny van de Beek
Amad Diallo
Alex Telles
Edison Cavani
Jadon Sancho
Raphael Varane
Cristiano Ronaldo
Click to expand...
Christ. All this cant be all players fault. But we changed managers as well. So what's the problem? Its really worrying. We keep going back to square one.
 

rooneyberbatov

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I'd say Shaw and Lindelof have improved slightly but that's it. Mata.. one of the best players in the league at Chelsea, from the World Cup, the Euros, and the CL winner to many years of misery here is unbelievable.
 

BusbyMalone

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Nevilles.Wear.Prada said:
Christ. All this cant be all players fault. But we changed managers as well. So what's the problem? Its really worrying. We keep going back to square one.
Click to expand...
Managerial recruitment has been just as awful as player recruitment. We've been poorly managed on the field and off it and have basically been happy to accept mediocrity instead of asking what we need to do to catch up with our rivals and be the best. Years and years of doing that will lead to this.
 
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