The greatest United value for money signings ever

vidic blood & sand

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I think we all agree that player pricing has become insane. £80M for Maguire is completely insane.
So over the period of a player's career at united, who do you think turned out to be the biggest bargain of them all?

Personally I'm going for my childhood hero Robbo. But to those who remember the summer of 1981, it became a tug of war between us and liverpool for the signing of Bryan Robson. Although Ron Atkinson joined us from Westbrom after the sacking of Dave Sexton, it looked for a while that Robbo would join liverpool. £1.5M was deemed too much for Martin Edwards, but eventually we settled on a £2M deal for Robbo and Remi Moses I believe. The cost was widely criticised at the time I remember, and later we all went crazy when rumours surfaced about a possible Frank Stapleton signing.

So Robbo's value I presume is around £1.5M - £1.7M depending on how much Moses was worth. He was a hero of ours for 13 years, and was officially replaced fittingly by Roy Keane for about twice Robbo's price in 1993. Keane is also a big candidate for one of the biggest value for money signings.

Another major candidate is obviously Cantona who signed for £1.2M in 92. Was inspirational during his time at the club except for one season. Was only with us for 4 and a half seasons though.
 

Panther

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Edwin van Der Saar - £2m
Patrice Evra - £5.5m
Nemanja Vidic - £7m
Cristiano Ronaldo - £12m
Michael Carrick - £14m
Wayne Rooney - £30m
Rio Ferdinand - £30m

£100m for 7 key players for our 08 CL winners squad, amazing.
 

thesheriffjw

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Cantona - £1m

He started the revolution. Was a leader, a talisman, a lunatic, a goalscorer, a provider, your go to guy.

Box office and top top drawer
 

Van Piorsing

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That was considered steep. Last year of contract and all that.
He was cheaper than Berbatov who was signed almost 4 years before. From player's quality and impact standpoint that's definition of value for money.
 

Web of Bissaka

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:nervous: I'm a bit confuse. Isn't bargain a low price but high value..

If we only consider the highest prices at the time of purchase (since the market prices changes overtime)..

For me, maybe Wayne Rooney. 10+ seasons, key player most of it, break our goalscoring record and actually brought in more titles and trophies. Sure the ending isn't full of fondness, but why only look at the end.
 

2 man midfield

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Big Pete for 500k.
Irwin for 700k.
Ronaldo for 12m
Vidic for 6m
Evra for 5.5m
 

arnie_ni

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Was going to say roy Keane but was he a record signing at the time?
 

reddevil80

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King Eric for me but I would also say Van Nistelrooy too. One of my all time faves and an absolute bargain was Captain Marvel himself, Bryan Robson but ultimately, for me, Eric Cantona.
 
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Schmeichal for £500k
Irwin £625k
Park for £4m
Cantona £1.2m
Van der Saar £2m

Players like Pallister, Keane or Rooney aren’t bargains in the sense that they were record signings at the time, and it’s only time that’s shown them to be great value for money.
 

vidic blood & sand

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:nervous: I'm a bit confuse. Isn't bargain a low price but high value..

If we only consider the highest prices at the time of purchase (since the market prices changes overtime)..

For me, maybe Wayne Rooney. 10+ seasons, key player most of it, break our goalscoring record and actually brought in more titles and trophies. Sure the ending isn't full of fondness, but why only look at the end.
Cost for return over time.
 

CherryBoy

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:nervous: I'm a bit confuse. Isn't bargain a low price but high value..

If we only consider the highest prices at the time of purchase (since the market prices changes overtime)..

For me, maybe Wayne Rooney. 10+ seasons, key player most of it, break our goalscoring record and actually brought in more titles and trophies. Sure the ending isn't full of fondness, but why only look at the end.
bargain
/ˈbɑːɡɪn/

"a thing bought or offered for sale much more cheaply than is usual or expected"
 

jesperjaap

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We did a lot of great cheap deals Ole, Kanchelskis, Irwin, Ronny Johnsen and you can add Ronaldo for what he bought and of course the profit we made from selling him.....but for me it is barely even a debate, two deals we have done stand out far and way above any others

Schmeichel - For me and I am biased, the best keeper of all time for a pittance and instrumental in league titles with the points he saved and moves he started, revolutionary in his time

Cantona - Has to be the number one £1m and he was bought as David Hirst got injured if I remember rightly? Bought for a team who hadnt won the league for so many years, he was the missing piece in the jigsaw puzzle and start of the years of success we enjoyed....also instrumental in his influence like a pied piper of the Fergie fledglings
 

NotoriousISSY

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Vidic and Evra as a double signing, along with VDS 6 months prior. It took a few months but that was the final piece of the jigsaw.

Carrick, VDS, Vidic and Evra came to about £32m? 13 years ago or not, £32m doesn't even buy you a right back now :houllier:
 

Gonçalo Motta

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I'm a bit tired of saying his name these days, but it has to be Ronaldo.
Bought for 12 million, sold by 80 million and in between, he was a key player in the league titles and 1 champions league.
I feel like that era was the last time that Man Utd was actually relevant (not only because of him ofc).
 

Eric's Seagull

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:nervous: I'm a bit confuse. Isn't bargain a low price but high value..

If we only consider the highest prices at the time of purchase (since the market prices changes overtime)..

For me, maybe Wayne Rooney. 10+ seasons, key player most of it, break our goalscoring record and actually brought in more titles and trophies. Sure the ending isn't full of fondness, but why only look at the end.
Denis Irwin who I mentioned earlier won 20 trophies including 7 Premierships and 3 FA cups and 1 Champions League whilst providing a vital contribution all the time.