Rate the foreign imports at United by nationality

[Bobcat]

Thought about this when we played Wolves, who look more like a Portuguese side than an English one, then thought about how we seem to do better with players from some countries than others. This is just my opinion and just at the top of my head

1. Holland: Has to be no1. Ruud, VdS, Stam, RvP were all incredible, then we had decent one like Blind and DvB
2. Portugal: Ronaldo and Bruno is two of our most influential players of all time and Nani imo was a great player for us
3. France: Cantona and Evra immense. Martial and Blanc decent. Also had a couple of questionable ones like Pogba, Schneiderlin, Saha, Silvestre and a couple of outright bad ones like Barthez and Bellion

I'd say these are the undisputed top 3, but after that it gets a bit tricky.

4: Spain: Mata and De Gea, the latter was the best keeper in the world for a long time and the former has been alright
5 Norway: Ole and Johnsen were great, Berg okaish and Nevland a complete flop
6: Sweden: Larsson and Zlatan. The latter especially was a big player for us for a short time and the former was a good impact sub
7: Serbia: Vidic. Nuff said
8. Brazil: Da Silva brothers and Fred. Not bad, but not great either
9: Denmark: Has some really fond memories of Pig Pete. Also really enjoy him as a pundit
10. Argentina: Tevez and Heinze are both turncoats. Good players though

tl;dr: We seem to do much better with Dutch and Portuguese players than say players from Argentina.

Thoughts?

 

[48 hours]

Ireland should be up there - Keane, Irwin, O’Shea

 

[adexkola]

Ireland?

Russia for Kanchelskis
We've not done well with Italy/Germany
Anyone remember Dong? China deserves a shout-out

 

[TwoSheds]

Thought about this when we played Wolves, who look more like a Portuguese side than an English one, then thought about how we seem to do better with players from some countries than others. This is just my opinion and just at the top of my head

1. Holland: Has to be no1. Ruud, VdS, Stam, RvP were all incredible, then we had decent one like Blind and DvB
2. Portugal: Ronaldo and Bruno is two of our most influential players of all time and Nani imo was a great player for us
3. France: Cantona and Evra immense. Martial and Blanc decent. Also had a couple of questionable ones like Pogba, Schneiderlin, Saha, Silvestre and a couple of outright bad ones like Barthez and Bellion

I'd say these are the undisputed top 3, but after that it gets a bit tricky.

4: Spain: Mata and De Gea, the latter was the best keeper in the world for a long time and the former has been alright
5 Norway: Ole and Johnsen were great, Berg okaish and Nevland a complete flop
6: Sweden: Larsson and Zlatan. The latter especially was a big player for us for a short time and the former was a good impact sub
7: Serbia: Vidic. Nuff said
8. Brazil: Da Silva brothers and Fred. Not bad, but not great either
9: Denmark: Has some really fond memories of Pig Pete. Also really enjoy him as a pundit
10. Argentina: Tevez and Heinze are both turncoats. Good players though

tl;dr: We seem to do much better with Dutch and Portuguese players than say players from Argentina.

Thoughts?

So wait a minute, you're saying Schneiderlin was more successful than Barthez? Was Schneiderlin more successful than anyone?

 

[Borys]

So Fred is the best Brazilian player we ever had? He isn't quite bad, but our South American scout needs to be brought for questioning.

 

[TsuWave]

2. Portugal: Ronaldo and Bruno is two of our most influential players of all time and Nani imo was a great player for us

Has Bruno even been here a full season? What silverware have we lifted? Like, for a club of our magnitude, how are we saying Bruno is one of our most influential players of all time?

is crack cocaine booming like it's the 80's or something?

 

[48 hours]

So Fred is the best Brazilian player we ever had? He isn't quite bad, but our South American scout needs to be brought for questioning.

and Fred was playing in the Ukraine so I’m not sure the South American scout gets credit for him

 

[tomaldinho1]

Argentina also Romero, Rojo, Verón & the snake.

 

[Gary_Walsh_Nou_Camp_Hell]

Bruno is not one of United's most influential players of all time. Ffs.

He's had a good year, but he's done nothing yet.

 

[AndersB]

3. France: Cantona and Evra immense. Martial and Blanc decent. Also had a couple of questionable ones like Pogba, Schneiderlin, Saha, Silvestre and a couple of outright bad ones like Barthez and Bellion

Thoughts?

Saha wasn't questionable.

You also forgot Japan - Kagawa, Park. So so, I Guess
Let's see if anyone bites

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

Thought about this when we played Wolves, who look more like a Portuguese side than an English one, then thought about how we seem to do better with players from some countries than others. This is just my opinion and just at the top of my head

1. Holland: Has to be no1. Ruud, VdS, Stam, RvP were all incredible, then we had decent one like Blind and DvB
2. Portugal: Ronaldo and Bruno is two of our most influential players of all time and Nani imo was a great player for us
3. France: Cantona and Evra immense. Martial and Blanc decent. Also had a couple of questionable ones like Pogba, Schneiderlin, Saha, Silvestre and a couple of outright bad ones like Barthez and Bellion

I'd say these are the undisputed top 3, but after that it gets a bit tricky.

4: Spain: Mata and De Gea, the latter was the best keeper in the world for a long time and the former has been alright
5 Norway: Ole and Johnsen were great, Berg okaish and Nevland a complete flop
6: Sweden: Larsson and Zlatan. The latter especially was a big player for us for a short time and the former was a good impact sub
7: Serbia: Vidic. Nuff said
8. Brazil: Da Silva brothers and Fred. Not bad, but not great either
9: Denmark: Has some really fond memories of Pig Pete. Also really enjoy him as a pundit
10. Argentina: Tevez and Heinze are both turncoats. Good players though

tl;dr: We seem to do much better with Dutch and Portuguese players than say players from Argentina.

Thoughts?

Barthez was very good in his first year. Certainly not outright bad.

Would put Serbia above Sweden. Larson only played about 7 games for us. Vidic captained the side and won a boat load of trophies.

argentina is defiantly the worst/ most disappointing cohort.

 

[Idxomer]

Schneiderlin was an outright bad one, Blanc was questionable.

Saha and Pogba I would put with Martial, maybe Silvestre too.

 

[James Peril]

Bruno one of United’s most influential players ever? In a corona infested league where every game is basically a glorified friendly? Respect the history son, he’s not even top 50.

 

[Sweet Square]

Ireland should be up there - Keane, Irwin, O’Shea

Although I have no idea how good they were Shay Brennan(355 games for United) and Tony Dunne(414 games for United) played a massive role under Bubsy. Part of the european final team in 68 and won 2 league titles. Have no idea where Best would fit in.

 

[led_scholes]

From Brazil we had Kleberson (bad) and Anderson (mixed).

 

[youmeletsfly]

Thought about this when we played Wolves, who look more like a Portuguese side than an English one, then thought about how we seem to do better with players from some countries than others. This is just my opinion and just at the top of my head

1. Holland: Has to be no1. Ruud, VdS, Stam, RvP were all incredible, then we had decent one like Blind and DvB
2. Portugal: Ronaldo and Bruno is two of our most influential players of all time and Nani imo was a great player for us
3. France: Cantona and Evra immense. Martial and Blanc decent. Also had a couple of questionable ones like Pogba, Schneiderlin, Saha, Silvestre and a couple of outright bad ones like Barthez and Bellion

I'd say these are the undisputed top 3, but after that it gets a bit tricky.

4: Spain: Mata and De Gea, the latter was the best keeper in the world for a long time and the former has been alright
5 Norway: Ole and Johnsen were great, Berg okaish and Nevland a complete flop
6: Sweden: Larsson and Zlatan. The latter especially was a big player for us for a short time and the former was a good impact sub
7: Serbia: Vidic. Nuff said
8. Brazil: Da Silva brothers and Fred. Not bad, but not great either
9: Denmark: Has some really fond memories of Pig Pete. Also really enjoy him as a pundit
10. Argentina: Tevez and Heinze are both turncoats. Good players though

tl;dr: We seem to do much better with Dutch and Portuguese players than say players from Argentina.

Thoughts?

Blind was decent for us, but to put DvB there is actually madness, the guys was jack shit bar one game.
Pogba has been a better player for us than Martial, even by his lazy ass standards.
Ronaldo and Bruno are two of our most influential players of all time? Bruno played 40 games for us son. When he does it for 5 years straight then you can say he's an influential player for us, not even close to the top5 in history.
I feel you're either young when posting shit like that or this thread is a soft wum.

 

[TwoSheds]

Saha wasn't questionable.

You also forgot Japan - Kagawa, Park. So so, I Guess
Let's see if anyone bites

Bruh.

 

[duffer]

Off the top of my head, probably forgot a ton. Not bothering if you've only had one player (eg Yorke)

France Cantona
Spain De Gea
Portugal Ronaldo
Brazil Rafael
Belgium Fellani
Italy Darmien? It's him or Taibi right?
Germany dunno, can't think of one!
Holland RVN
Scotland Law
Nigeria Mikel
Wales Giggs
England Charlton
N Iron Best
Ireland Keane
Argentina Tevez

Considering Italy and Germany have been top footballing nation forever, it's mad that you've had barely any.

Also no decent players from any African nations is surprising.

 

[Tarrou]

I'd have Holland first, Portugal second and Wales recently moved up to third with Dan James

 

[wrepdrep]

What about Italy?

Matteo Darmian, Federico Macheda, Rodrigo Possebon, Giuseppe Rossi and Massimo Taibi

 

[Bobcat]

Ok fair enough. I went a bit overboard with the Bruno comment. Hes made a big impact though.

I forgot about Rojo and Veron. Another two bad signings + the traitors. Argentina has to be rock bottom?

Edit: In my defense i had schanps for breakfast

 

[OleBoiii]

Netherlands, Ireland, Portugal and France are the big 4 for us.

South Americans have been a very mixed bag and never really top class, apart from Valencia and a certain snake.

Germans haven't really been given a chance. The same can be said of Italians.

 

[Bondi77]

Saha wasn't questionable.

You also forgot Japan - Kagawa, Park. So so, I Guess
Let's see if anyone bites

Park is not Japanese

 

[Steve Bruce]

Although I have no idea how good they were Shay Brennan(355 games for United) and Tony Dunne(414 games for United) played a massive role under Bubsy. Part of the european final team in 68 and won 2 league titles. Have no idea where Best would fit in.

Best is from Northern Ireland.

NI players - George Best, Whiteside, McIlroy, Harry gregg, blanchflower, Jimmy nicoll, Mal Donaghey, Johnny Evans etc

There's many more NI players that played for united but they are among the better ones. (I'm sure I've missed a few)

 

[Steve Bruce]

When the football season is over it might be interesting to try & create best 11 of each country that's played in England eg French team of players who played in England's top division

Of countries we can't make 11, we just make a best mixed 11 of the crest of the world.

 

[Crustanoid]

Saha wasn't questionable.

You also forgot Japan - Kagawa, Park. So so, I Guess
Let's see if anyone bites

You’re forgetting also Dong, but all three also played for Korea, and I believe China at some point.

 

[KranjskaKlobasa]

Protugal gave us Bebe, France gave us Obertan.

Notable mentions are: South Korea, South Africa and Bulgaria.

 

[Oranges038]

Ireland & maybe Northern Ireland if you want to include them should easily be top of that list, they've provided Utd with more players than any other.

Keane, Best, Dunne, Brennan, Carey, Whiteside, Irwin, Mcilroy, Gregg, Blanchflower, Moran, Stapleton and more besides.

Then France, Holland and Portugal.

Can Scotland be included as foreign?

 

[JPRouve]

Off the top of my head, probably forgot a ton. Not bothering if you've only had one player (eg Yorke)

France Cantona
Spain De Gea
Portugal Ronaldo
Brazil Rafael
Belgium Fellani
Italy Darmien? It's him or Taibi right?
Germany dunno, can't think of one!
Holland RVN
Scotland Law
Nigeria Mikel
Wales Giggs
England Charlton
N Iron Best
Ireland Keane
Argentina Tevez

Considering Italy and Germany have been top footballing nation forever, it's mad that you've had barely any.

Also no decent players from any African nations is surprising.

That was the only point of the list wasn't it?

 

[tomaldinho1]

When the football season is over it might be interesting to try & create best 11 of each country that's played in England eg French team of players who played in England's top division

Of countries we can't make 11, we just make a best mixed 11 of the crest of the world.

France will be immense, some key players from two world cup winning squads + guys like Viera, Cantona, enigma's like Ginola, Anelka and some PL stalwarts like Malbranque, Clichy, Distin etc.

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

Thought about this when we played Wolves, who look more like a Portuguese side than an English one, then thought about how we seem to do better with players from some countries than others. This is just my opinion and just at the top of my head

1. Holland: Has to be no1. Ruud, VdS, Stam, RvP were all incredible, then we had decent one like Blind and DvB
2. Portugal: Ronaldo and Bruno is two of our most influential players of all time and Nani imo was a great player for us
3. France: Cantona and Evra immense. Martial and Blanc decent. Also had a couple of questionable ones like Pogba, Schneiderlin, Saha, Silvestre and a couple of outright bad ones like Barthez and Bellion

I'd say these are the undisputed top 3, but after that it gets a bit tricky.

4: Spain: Mata and De Gea, the latter was the best keeper in the world for a long time and the former has been alright
5 Norway: Ole and Johnsen were great, Berg okaish and Nevland a complete flop
6: Sweden: Larsson and Zlatan. The latter especially was a big player for us for a short time and the former was a good impact sub
7: Serbia: Vidic. Nuff said
8. Brazil: Da Silva brothers and Fred. Not bad, but not great either
9: Denmark: Has some really fond memories of Pig Pete. Also really enjoy him as a pundit
10. Argentina: Tevez and Heinze are both turncoats. Good players though

tl;dr: We seem to do much better with Dutch and Portuguese players than say players from Argentina.

Thoughts?

Wait, Schneiderlin was questionable but Barthez was bad? How does that work exactly? We won 2 titles in the 3 years Barthez was in goal for us

 

[freeurmind]

Wait, Schneiderlin was questionable but Barthez was bad? How does that work exactly? We won 2 titles in the 3 years Barthez was in goal for us

This confused me as well. Schneiderlin did feck all while Barthez was solid the first 2 years.

 

[Kag]

I’d agree with the top three.

Questionable is a little harsh on Silvestre, mind - he made not far off 400 appearances for the club. He wasn’t Rio or Vidic but he was a dependable bloke to have around the squad. In hindsight, he’s a little underrated.

 

[royboy16]

Cork -keane and Irwin.

Bite please.

 

[freeurmind]

Off the top of my head, probably forgot a ton. Not bothering if you've only had one player (eg Yorke)

France Cantona
Spain De Gea
Portugal Ronaldo
Brazil Rafael
Belgium Fellani
Italy Darmien? It's him or Taibi right?
Germany dunno, can't think of one!
Holland RVN
Scotland Law
Nigeria Mikel
Wales Giggs
England Charlton
N Iron Best
Ireland Keane
Argentina Tevez

Considering Italy and Germany have been top footballing nation forever, it's mad that you've had barely any.

Also no decent players from any African nations is surprising.

Fortune, Bailey

 

[freeurmind]

Thought about this when we played Wolves, who look more like a Portuguese side than an English one, then thought about how we seem to do better with players from some countries than others. This is just my opinion and just at the top of my head

1. Holland: Has to be no1. Ruud, VdS, Stam, RvP were all incredible, then we had decent one like Blind and DvB
2. Portugal: Ronaldo and Bruno is two of our most influential players of all time and Nani imo was a great player for us
3. France: Cantona and Evra immense. Martial and Blanc decent. Also had a couple of questionable ones like Pogba, Schneiderlin, Saha, Silvestre and a couple of outright bad ones like Barthez and Bellion

I'd say these are the undisputed top 3, but after that it gets a bit tricky.

4: Spain: Mata and De Gea, the latter was the best keeper in the world for a long time and the former has been alright
5 Norway: Ole and Johnsen were great, Berg okaish and Nevland a complete flop
6: Sweden: Larsson and Zlatan. The latter especially was a big player for us for a short time and the former was a good impact sub
7: Serbia: Vidic. Nuff said
8. Brazil: Da Silva brothers and Fred. Not bad, but not great either
9: Denmark: Has some really fond memories of Pig Pete. Also really enjoy him as a pundit
10. Argentina: Tevez and Heinze are both turncoats. Good players though

tl;dr: We seem to do much better with Dutch and Portuguese players than say players from Argentina.

Thoughts?

Sorry to harp on but it's mad how David Bellion gets a mention but not Anderson.

 

[patty123]

Ireland should be up there - Keane, Irwin, O’Shea

Billy Whelan, Kevin Moran, The Black Pearl, Johnny Giles, Tony Dunne, Noel Cantwell, Ashley Grimes, Frank Stapelon, Johnny Carey and many others to a lesser extent like Liam O Brien, Liam Miller, Gibson,

 

[Bondi77]

Wait, Schneiderlin was questionable but Barthez was bad? How does that work exactly? We won 2 titles in the 3 years Barthez was in goal for us

He obviously did not follow Utd at the time and is pulling names out of his behind.

 

[Bondi77]

Having a bit of trouble with this idea of labelling British players as foreign imports.
The great Liverpool sides were littered with them

 

[duffer]

Having a bit of trouble with this idea of labelling British players as foreign imports.
The great Liverpool sides were littered with them

In the 1986 FA Cup final, they had zero English players.