Why did we phase out or sell X player?

[Ibi Dreams]

There's been some talk of Yorke and Cole recently, and as someone who has very vague memories of that time, why did they not last longer at United? What about other good players (Stam?)


I don't want this to turn into a discussion about how we can't sell players now. I know it's harder now. My question is more like, why did these players, who had been so good, end up leaving?

Yorke and Cole particularly stick in the mind because they were incredible and won the treble, and yet a couple of years later we had a totally different strike force.

 

[red4ever 79]

I think SAF was the master at knowing when to move players on. Time did not stand still and could not rest on their sentiments. If my memory serves me well Yorke never hot the heights of that treble season again. It's a shame Utd have gone in the opposite direction in the past 6 years. Nowadays we persevere with players who are just s*it.

 

[Stobzilla]

Veron. We quit on him too early.

 

[Red_Aaron]

Yorkes man utd move got him an extraordinary amount of tail and by all accounts Yorkie sure does love a lady or two.

It's a shame he took his eye off the ball because he was brilliant in his first season but also part of me thinks fair play to him

 

[Sir Scott McToMinay]

Stam wasn’t sold because he regressed as a player, it was because of what’s he had written in his book.
Was great for AC Milan and Lazio for a number of years after we sold him, fecked up our season that one.

 

[lysglimt]

I think SAF was the master at knowing when to move players on. Time did not stand still and could not rest on their sentiments. If my memory serves me well Yorke never hot the heights of that treble season again. It's a shame Utd have gone in the opposite direction in the past 6 years. Nowadays we persevere with players who are just s*it.

Yorke was brilliant for 2 Seasons - then he had an average season in 2000/2001 and during 2001/2002 he was hardly playing. So it made Perfect sense that he was gone. Andy Cole showed more or less exactly the same development. Add to that - both players were close to turning 31 and I assume Ferguson was under pressure to get some money in after spending a lot on Nistelrooy and Veron the season before.

 

[jem]

I know he was frustrating, and didn't exactly set the world alight post-United, but I still we could've used Nani for a few more seasons.

 

[LawCharltonBest]

Wilfried Zaha.

He’s quite rightly a £70m rated player now imo. And we sold a 22 year old version of him for £3.75m.

Pathetic. The club must have known how much his value would rise

 

[Grande]

I remember Yorke going on a vacation to Trinidad mid season, and after he came back, I felt he was less focussed from then on. Probably a coincidence, but he did tail off after the treble, probably not hungry enough anymore. Fergie always got rid of players ‘satisfied’ by success. He left if I recall fairly cheap compared to his status just a season or two earlier, because it was clear he wasn’t the same player.

Cole was different, but he lost a crucial yard of pace, and he wasn’t interested in being a super-sub. A natural move down a step on the ladder.

Stam, on the other hand, was still a big name. He brought Fergie’s ire upon himself by revealing in his autobiography that Fergie illegaly approached him when under contract with PSV. At the same time, though, Fergie thought Stam had lost some pace and was probably in decline. United got good money for Stam to Milan, but Stam the decline didn’t happen, and Milan ended up most satisfied with the deal.

 

[RedSky]

Veron. We quit on him too early.

I never understood why we sold him. He had a great pre season and looked ready to step it up.

 

[Frank Grimes]

Rafael and Nani.

 

[Tarrou]

Didn't Yorkie piss off Fergie with his sex tape?

The only thing I remember about it was the chant which went something like....

Dwight Yorke wherever you may be, you are the king of pornography

 

[duffer]

Veron. We quit on him too early.

You didn't. He was even worse for us than he was for you.

 

[Pughnichi]

A little random....but I always wanted to see more of Zoran Tosic. He was brilliant for our reserves and in the handful of 4 minute cameos afforded to him he looked like a tidy player with good skill and technical ability

 

[Gopher Brown]

I seem to recall SAF after 99/00 felt we were becoming a bit predictable and wanted more tactical flexibility than Cole and Yorke offered us.

Zaha was an odd signing - I’m really not a fan of loaning a player back until the end of the season, get him in and settled for the new season. He must have had attitude problems or something as we let him go very cheaply. It has taken him a good while to get to his current level though. He was incredibly inconsistent before this season.

Stam - 6 months later he was banned for nandrolone use. That obviously has never been mentioned as a reason for getting rid of him, but I was a little suspicious after that.

 

[JJ12]

Zaha and Stam

 

[Wumminator]

Wilfried Zaha.

He’s quite rightly a £70m rated player now imo. And we sold a 22 year old version of him for £3.75m.

Pathetic. The club must have known how much his value would rise

To be fair at the time a 3.75 million player would be worth about 12 million now with inflation.

And as well as that we have a 25% clause on his sale. So it was actually pretty smart on our behalf.

 

[Gopher Brown]

I remember Yorke going on a vacation to Trinidad mid season, and after he came back, I felt he was less focussed from then on. Probably a coincidence, but he did tail off after the treble, probably not hungry enough anymore. Fergie always got rid of players ‘satisfied’ by success. He left if I recall fairly cheap compared to his status just a season or two earlier, because it was clear he wasn’t the same player.

Cole was different, but he lost a crucial yard of pace, and he wasn’t interested in being a super-sub. A natural move down a step on the ladder.

Stam, on the other hand, was still a big name. He brought Fergie’s ire upon himself by revealing in his autobiography that Fergie illegaly approached him when under contract with PSV. At the same time, though, Fergie thought Stam had lost some pace and was probably in decline. United got good money for Stam to Milan, but Stam the decline didn’t happen, and Milan ended up most satisfied with the deal.

Lazio.

 

[SalfordRed18]

In a single summer we lost Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic, Fletcher, Nani and Anderson . Say what you want about past it, not good enough etc etc, but to lose all those players at the same time was mental.

 

[Paolo Di Canio]

Rafael and Nani.

Van Gaal hates Brazillians & Nani couldnt play striker in LVGs 4-4-2 diamond

 

[mad1max954]

Didn't Yorkie piss off Fergie with his sex tape?

The only thing I remember about it was the chant which went something like....

Dwight Yorke wherever you may be, you are the king of pornography

Didn’t Yorke downed tools when fergie announced his retirement the first time, only for Sir Alex to change his mind. Think it’s in the autobiography. The news is announced in the dressing room(that’s sir Alex is staying) and someone turned to yorke and said ‘that’s you fecked’.

 

[Saffron]

You didn't. He was even worse for us than he was for you.

Sometimes players don’t react well to being demoted to a smaller club. This is a player who had set the Serie A on fire for years. He wasn’t too thrilled about going to United, even. Imagine what he thought of Chelsea. Probably barely knew the club existed before he went to England.

 

[Sir Scott McToMinay]

In a single summer we lost Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic, Fletcher, Nani and Anderson . Say what you want about past it, not good enough etc etc, but to lose all those players at the same time was mental.

There was no use for any of them (Anderson aside), the magic, the aura, the indescribable winning mentality was all SAF and his staff, Giggs and Scholes too, to an extent.

Also, Fletcher started Van Gaal’s season with us as far as I remember.

 

[sunama]

Wilfried Zaha.

He’s quite rightly a £70m rated player now imo. And we sold a 22 year old version of him for £3.75m.

Pathetic. The club must have known how much his value would rise

I never really understood the fanfare about Zaha. He is at a club like Crystal Palace, because that's how good he is. I am sure he will get a move to a top 6 side, but until he actually does something special, I won't rate him.
£3.75M was the right price to sell him for, given that he was a still a work in progress (and hasn't gone on to light up the footballing world...which may change in future, but as of now, i stand by this statement).

 

[Saffron]

I never really understood the fanfare about Zaha. He is at a club like Crystal Palace, because that's how good he is. I am sure he will get a move to a top 6 side, but until he actually does something special, I won't rate him.
£3.75M was the right price to sell him for, given that he was a still a work in progress (and hasn't gone on to light up the footballing world...which may change in future, but as of now, i stand by this statement).

Sir Alex Ferguson personally signed him for £10m. He is now valued at, conservatively, £45m.

You really have to tie yourself in a knot to be claiming that SAF’s judgment on Zaha was bad, that he caused us to lose £6m and that Louioui Van Gaal did the right thing dumping him for peanuts.

 

[Sandikan]

Stam wasn’t sold because he regressed as a player, it was because of what’s he had written in his book.
Was great for AC Milan and Lazio for a number of years after we sold him, fecked up our season that one.

He failed a drugs test not long after he moved. I always wonder if a bit of that was known beforehand.
As shipping him and bringing in a 36year old blanc was single handedly fergies worse combo

 

[Sandikan]

Sir Alex Ferguson personally signed him for £10m. He is now valued at, conservatively, £45m.

You really have to tie yourself in a knot to be claiming that SAF’s judgment on Zaha was bad, that he caused us to lose £6m and that Louioui Van Gaal did the right thing dumping him for peanuts.

It's captain hindsight material to be honest.

 

[Luke1995]

I feel like Louis Saha could have stayed on for the 2008/09 season and a few beyond that. Berbatov was signed as somewhat of a squad replacement but their games were so different.

 

[charlenefan]

There's been some talk of Yorke and Cole recently, and as someone who has very vague memories of that time, why did they not last longer at United? What about other good players (Stam?)


I don't want this to turn into a discussion about how we can't sell players now. I know it's harder now. My question is more like, why did these players, who had been so good, end up leaving?

Yorke and Cole particularly stick in the mind because they were incredible and won the treble, and yet a couple of years later we had a totally different strike force.

Yorke let off the field activities take priority over on the field ones

Cole was a consequence of Fergie signing RVN and wanting to move to a more European style of play with only one striker and a number 10

Cole had a very good career with us, while he may not have had many more seasons after 99 we forget he was around for a good few years before then

 

[charlenefan]

Veron. We quit on him too early.

I've always said that we sold Verón one year too early but then he was utterly hopeless at Chelsea so who knows

 

[Saffron]

It's captain hindsight material to be honest.

Exactly. How can you, with the benefit of hindsight, still say LVG was correct in letting Zaha go for virtually nothing?

 

[BrianMcClair'sBarnet]

Veron for starters wanted to leave.His agent was shopping him all around Europe,which naturally pissed Fergie off.

Stam. The book did it for him,though it must be said the pace of the PL and a few niggles here and there were effecting him.
Naturally Stam left and succeeded in a much more slower,less hectic league.

Cole left purely to get in more gametime ahead of the World Cup and he was sidelined due to RVN amazing form.

Yorke,similar to Cole,wanted game time but unlike his treble striking team mate his overall mentality and dedication for the club was severly lacking.

Saha. Simple,injuries fecked him over.

 

[charlenefan]

Wilfried Zaha.

He’s quite rightly a £70m rated player now imo. And we sold a 22 year old version of him for £3.75m.

Pathetic. The club must have known how much his value would rise

He's really not. His best goal scoring season is 10 League goals and that was last season, the only season he's ever got into double figures in all comps and while we may have made a loss on him (bought him for 10m sold him for 3 potentially rising to 6) we do have this sell on clause (believed to be 25%) so we may still end up making a profit (or at least break even)

 

[robinamicrowave]

I feel like Louis Saha could have stayed on for the 2008/09 season and a few beyond that. Berbatov was signed as somewhat of a squad replacement but their games were so different.

I always felt bad for Saha. Would have easily been worth 20+ goals a season if he'd stayed fit.

 

[Saffron]

Around seven months after his €25 million move from Bayer Leverkusen to Arsenal, Bernd Leno has given his verdict on how playing in England differs from playing in Germany.

"Every game here is difficult. I'd really like to know how a team like Crystal Palace would fare in the Bundesliga with top players like Wilfried Zaha or Andros Townsend," he explained.

 

[charlenefan]

If your point is to try and show other pros rate Zaha as a top player don't find one who also name checks Townsend in the same sentence

 

[AJ10]

Wilfried Zaha.

He’s quite rightly a £70m rated player now imo. And we sold a 22 year old version of him for £3.75m.

Pathetic. The club must have known how much his value would rise

Would you care to explain how he's rightly worth that much?

 

[astracrazy]

Why did we ever let Pique go? I was younger then but im pretty sure it was obvious he was going to be world class.

 

[BrianMcClair'sBarnet]

Why did we ever let Pique go? I was younger then but im pretty sure it was obvious he was going to be world class.

Because he wanted to leave and SAF respected his wishes having brought him at the club at a young age. Plus SAF felt comfortable knowing Evans was coming through.

6 million fee for a player we got for nothing. United and SAF saw it as a good deal.

 

[LawCharltonBest]

Would you care to explain how he's rightly worth that much?

Because I think he’s a brilliant football player comparable to those being touted for similar fees.

If Palace sell Zaha how much do you think he’d cost a potential buyer?