The poor post-United careers of recent departures

horsechoker

The Caf's Ezza.
Joined
Apr 16, 2015
Messages
54,708
Location
The stable
It's shocking how badly some of our recent departures have fared after United

De Gea - free agent
Lingard - free agent (about to join Seoul)
Mata - underwhelmed in Turkey and then let go by Kobe after a few months
Pogba - a handful of Juve appearances and banned for drugs
Bailly - contract terminated by Besiktas

I strongly believe Martial will be on this list too

Am I blowing this out of proportion or does it further demonstrate the crazy contracts and subpar talent we had at the club?
 
Last edited:
I forgot about Fellaini until the news this week
 
horsechoker said:
It's shocking how badly some of our recent departures have fared after United

De Gea - free agent
Lingard - free agent
Mata - underwhelmed in Turkey and then let go by Kobe after a few months
Pogba - a handful of Juve appearances and banned for drugs
Bailly - contract terminated by Besiktas

I strongly believe Martial will be on this list too

Am I blowing this out of proportion or does it further demonstrate the crazy contracts and subpar talent we had at the club?
Click to expand...

Yes partly it does but need to do a full list as some are doing alright - although maybe it's more the Academy players like Elanga and Mengi who are playing regularly

Mata is 35 so would not have expected much after leaving
 
De Gea is the wierdest one - I do believe he'll be a good goalkeeper for someone, there just actually has to be a someone.
 
horsechoker said:
It's shocking how badly some of our recent departures have fared after United

De Gea - free agent
Lingard - free agent
Mata - underwhelmed in Turkey and then let go by Kobe after a few months
Pogba - a handful of Juve appearances and banned for drugs
Bailly - contract terminated by Besiktas

Am I blowing this out of proportion or does it further demonstrate the crazy contracts and subpar talent we had at the club?
Click to expand...

I think you can add players out on loan and in the shop window, too. DvB has had spectacularly shit spells at Everton and now Frankfurt and arguably Martial failed to do much at Sevilla on loan (obviously he's back now and still failing to do anything of note whenever he gets a chance). Telles is now in Saudi after also being at Sevilla for 6 months. Sancho might have a decent career outside of United, but "might" is doing some heavy lifting there.

This is a massive issue though. We are fecked in the transfer market predominantly due to not being able to offload shit players on insane contracts - a direct legacy of Ed Woodward.

Largest player sales since 2020/21:
- 20/21: Smalling (€15m) - total €19.5m
- 21/22: James (€29m) - total €31.10m
- 22/23: Garner (€10.4m) - total €23.65m
- 23/24: Henderson & Elanga (both €17.4m). - total €55.34m

That is ridiculous.
 
Annihilate Now! said:
De Gea is the wierdest one - I do believe he'll be a good goalkeeper for someone, there just actually has to be a someone.
Click to expand...

I kind of respect his decision. It's ok to have standards. Some might call him delusional for not immediately accepting a mid-tier team, but it's still his choice. He's young enough to still have 5 good years left as a goalkeeper, so he might as well pick a project that he's excited about.

Or just retire early. That is also a very reasonable decision in my opinion.
 
Annihilate Now! said:
De Gea is the wierdest one - I do believe he'll be a good goalkeeper for someone, there just actually has to be a someone.
Click to expand...

Clubs: “Hi Dave, we think you still have plenty to offer and would love to see you rebuild your career here.”

Dave: “Sounds great, I’ll be expecting 350k a week and regular contract extensions. I will not be coming for crosses and I expect to be in no way responsible for any form of leadership at the back.”

…

Dave: “Hello?”
 
horsechoker said:
It's shocking how badly some of our recent departures have fared after United

De Gea - free agent
Lingard - free agent
Mata - underwhelmed in Turkey and then let go by Kobe after a few months
Pogba - a handful of Juve appearances and banned for drugs
Bailly - contract terminated by Besiktas

I strongly believe Martial will be on this list too

Am I blowing this out of proportion or does it further demonstrate the crazy contracts and subpar talent we had at the club?
Click to expand...
In a few cases I think it highlights that our concerns about player quality probably were actually correct. Martial will undoubtedly join the list.

On the flip side Smalling, Darmian, Sanchez, Lukaku, Herrera and Young all went on to do fairly well after United. Then you have academy graduates like Pereira, Mengi, Garner and Elanga doing well for themselves. When you look back you just see what a random collection of players we actually cobbled together over the last decade, really quite baffling.
 
Credit to Chris Smalling, he let his twin Mike go to Roma and he's been smashing it.
 
Annihilate Now! said:
De Gea is the wierdest one - I do believe he'll be a good goalkeeper for someone, there just actually has to be a someone.
Click to expand...

His first child was born last year so probably just decided to chill for a bit rather than accept some midtable offer

Also Lingard is apparently in South Korea right now which will be interesting !
 
Rood said:
Also Lingard is apparently in South Korea right now which will be interesting !
Click to expand...

That's to pursue a new career in K-Pop right?

J-Lingz feat. PSY - Beans to drop sometime this year.
 
The longer De Gea is a free agent the less likely he will be to sign for anyone in my view. Just dont see it happening.
 
I reckon if you examine this, it's probably not true re talent in general. More we've hung onto some older players too long and, instead of retiring, they have then just done the rounds of international leagues to maximise their earnings.

Most young players who were first teamers are starting for their clubs now, Henderson, Elanga, Garner, Pereira. It's the old boys who had fat contracts they didn't want to give up or clubs wouldn't match i.e. DDG, Mata, Cavani, Lingard, Alexis, Ronaldo who have gone away and done sweet F all.
 
You can probably add most United signings since 2013 to the list in terms of players leaving and doing better. United as a club, breaks players and managers. Anybody who thinks the problem was finding the right manager to make it all work is drinking some powerful donkey piss coolaid.

Anybody Blaming managers for United over spending on transfers (even Anthony), giving stupid contracts and stupid contract extensions is a bit thick at this stage.

This is why many fans arent focused on sacking ETH. INEOS are what gives me hope this decade of waste is coming to the end, not ANY managerial appointment.
 
Who was out most successful departure post-utd in the Fergie era not including Ronaldo

Beckham? but IMO never reached same heights. Maybe Stam.

Loads didnt do amazing. Sharpe, Kanchelskis, Yorke, Park etc...
 
Reditus said:
Who was out most successful departure post-utd in the Fergie era not including Ronaldo

Beckham? but IMO never reached same heights. Maybe Stam.

Loads didnt do amazing. Sharpe, Kanchelskis, Yorke, Park etc...
Click to expand...

Forlan did pretty well for himself. Gerard Pique not too shabby either.
 
Reditus said:
Who was out most successful departure post-utd in the Fergie era not including Ronaldo

Beckham? but IMO never reached same heights. Maybe Stam.

Loads didnt do amazing. Sharpe, Kanchelskis, Yorke, Park etc...
Click to expand...

The obvious one is Forlán, who looked like a donkey at United, but ended being among La Liga's best players. Piqué left us early but ended doing allright.
 
Annihilate Now! said:
De Gea is the wierdest one - I do believe he'll be a good goalkeeper for someone, there just actually has to be a someone.
Click to expand...
Justin Bijlow is injured once again. Maybe he he'd like a move to the world's greatest club?

The pay is shit, so is the weather, but the fans would love him :nervous:
 
Last edited:
horsechoker said:
It's shocking how badly some of our recent departures have fared after United

De Gea - free agent
Lingard - free agent
Mata - underwhelmed in Turkey and then let go by Kobe after a few months
Pogba - a handful of Juve appearances and banned for drugs
Bailly - contract terminated by Besiktas

I strongly believe Martial will be on this list too

Am I blowing this out of proportion or does it further demonstrate the crazy contracts and subpar talent we had at the club?
Click to expand...

To be fair Mata was reaching the end when he left so wouldn't have him on the same list as the rest.

De Gea is the only other one that's really a surprise tbh. Unless he has crazy wage demands on just can't be bothered to play football anymore it doesn't make sense.
 
Reditus said:
Who was out most successful departure post-utd in the Fergie era not including Ronaldo

Beckham? but IMO never reached same heights. Maybe Stam.

Loads didnt do amazing. Sharpe, Kanchelskis, Yorke, Park etc...
Click to expand...

going back a bit, but Strachan got league player of the year and a league title with Leeds. Paul McGrath was a mainstay in a very good Villa team, who finished 2nd in Pl, he also got PFA players of the year award
 
BarstoolProphet said:
The obvious one is Forlán, who looked like a donkey at United, but ended being among La Liga's best players. Piqué left us early but ended doing alright.
Click to expand...

Didn't think he looked like a donkey at all. He was just competing with Ruud for a starting spot when Ruud was banging in 30-40 goals a season and wasn't happy being bit part. If he'd stayed I reckon he'd have been a brilliant player for us. Imagine him in the Ronaldo/Rooney team.
 
Reditus said:
Who was out most successful departure post-utd in the Fergie era not including Ronaldo

Beckham? but IMO never reached same heights. Maybe Stam.

Loads didnt do amazing. Sharpe, Kanchelskis, Yorke, Park etc...
Click to expand...
Probably Di Maria. A snake but maybe the last world class player we had.
 
I've argue this a few times when posters blame the managers performance.

You just have to look at what these giys did after United to see the main problem has been the players we've bought. The vast majority leave United and do nothing.
 
Annihilate Now! said:
De Gea is the wierdest one - I do believe he'll be a good goalkeeper for someone, there just actually has to be a someone.
Click to expand...
Yeah I do believe it's a combination of salary & expectations. Even if he cut his United wage by two-thirds, he'd still be on circa 120k per week, isn't it? And i guess for "smaller" teams, that'd either break their wage structure or make him one of their highest paid. Then I also don't think DDG wants to go down to those levels. Weren't there stories over the summer that he was offered to Bayern (when Sommer left) and Madrid (when Courtois got injured and they instead went for Kepa)....probably shows you the level he'd still like to compete at.
 
Lingard dabs on choker
horsechoker said:
It's shocking how badly some of our recent departures have fared after United

De Gea - free agent
Lingard - free agent
Mata - underwhelmed in Turkey and then let go by Kobe after a few months
Pogba - a handful of Juve appearances and banned for drugs
Bailly - contract terminated by Besiktas

I strongly believe Martial will be on this list too

Am I blowing this out of proportion or does it further demonstrate the crazy contracts and subpar talent we had at the club?
Click to expand...

 
The players in the OP were basically done -- either physically, or motivation wise.

Our departures definitely tend to continue the trajectory downward when leaving (which makes sense -- a club like Man Utd shouldn't be selling good players, unless we're in a surplus of them or they're youth kids), but we have had some who do well after leaving.

Players we've sold who have done well: Fred (as above); Chris Smalling; Darmian; Blind. Lukaku ended up winning the league and POTY after he went. Andreas P is a PL level player. Memphis leveled out to a decent player too.
 
DWelbz19 said:
The players in the OP were basically done -- either physically, or motivation wise.

Our departures definitely tend to continue the trajectory downward when leaving (which makes sense -- a club like Man Utd shouldn't be selling good players, unless we're in a surplus of them or they're youth kids), but we have had some who do well after leaving.

Players we've sold who have done well: Fred (as above); Chris Smalling; Darmian; Blind. Lukaku ended up winning the league and POTY after he went. Andreas P is a PL level player. Memphis leveled out to a decent player too.
Click to expand...

They've done relatively well. I don't think any of them except Di Maria have performed at the levels you'd want for a United player. I don't think they've made the club or fans regret their sale. Maybe Smalling given how we've struggled at CB for options.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.