As another decade draws to a close, the Republik of Mancunia will be looking at the best and worst of United over the past ten years.
BEST SIGNINGS
Ruud Van Nistelrooy
Date: April 23rd 2001
Transfer fee: £19 million
Random quote: “In spite of what has happened in the past year, my feelings for the club have never diminished. It has always been a dream of mine to play for United at Old Trafford. So this move has been a very easy choice for me to make and I look forward to playing for the club next season.”
Appearances: 219
Trophies: 1 Premiership title, 1 FA Cup, 1 League Cup.
Individual achievements: Sir Matt Busby player of the Year (2002 and 2003), PFA Player of the Year (2002), Premiership golden boot (2003).
Highlights: Scoring in the 2004 FA Cup final, beating Denis Law’s record for number of European goals in a United shirt (a record he still holds), scoring the penalty which helped end Arsenal’s unbeaten run a year after missing one against Arsenal, the two late goals he scored against Aston Villa in the cup which saw United go from 2-0 with 35 minutes to play to winning 3-2, left the club after scoring an incredible 150 goals in 219 games.
Video: Tribute to Ruud
Rio Ferdinand
Date: July 22nd 2002
Transfer fee: £29.1 million
Random quote: “I wear my red shirt with as much pride as anyone else. Hopefully, the fans can see that I’m committed and that my heart is at the club. I love playing for United.”
Appearances: 318
Trophies: 4 Premiership titles, 2 League Cups, 1 European Cup, 1 FIFA Club World Cup.
Individual achievements: PFA Team of the Year (2005, 2007, 2008, 2009).
Highlights: Scoring an injury time winner against Liverpool and captaining the club to victory in the 2008 European Cup final.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Date: August 12th 2003
Transfer fee: £12.24 million
Random quote: “I am very happy to be signing for the best team in the world, and especially proud to be the first Portuguese player to join Manchester United.”
Appearances: 292
Trophies: 3 Premiership titles, 1 FA Cup, 2 League Cups, 1 European Cup, 1 FIFA Club World Cup.
Individual achievements: Ballon d’Or (2008), FIFA World Player of the Year (2008), PFA Player of the Year (2007, 2008), Premiership golden boot (2008), PFA Team of the Year (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009).
Highlights: Scoring our only goal in the 2008 European Cup final, scoring in in the 2004 FA Cup final, scoring in the 2006 League Cup final, scoring two goals against Arsenal in the 2009 European Cup semi-final at the Emirates, scoring 42 goals in 49 games in 07-08.
Wayne Rooney
Date: August 31st 2004
Transfer fee: £27 million
Random quote: “I hope I’m still at United when I’m the same age as guys like Ryan, Scholesy and Gary Neville. I’ve always said that as long as United want me, I’m happy to stay. I don’t want to leave. I love the club and have no reason to even think about moving.”
Appearances: 256
Trophies: 3 Premiership titles, 1 League Cup, 1 European Cup, 1 FIFA Club World Cup.
Individual achievements: Sir Matt Busby player of the year (2006), PFA Young Player of the Year (2005, 2006), PFA Fans Player of the Year (2006), PFA Team of the Year (2006).
Highlights: Scoring a hattrick in the Champions League on his début, scoring in the 2006 League Cup final, scoring an injury time winner against AC Milan in the 2007 European Cup semi-final.
Nemanja Vidic
Date: January 5th 2006
Transfer fee: £7 million
Random quote: “To play for United and win trophies is a big thing and I am proud to be part of this team.”
Appearances: 167
Trophies: 3 Premiership titles, 2 League Cups, 1 European Cup, 1 FIFA Club World Cup.
Individual achievements: Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year (2009), PFA Team of the Year (2007, 2008, 2009).
Highlights: Part of the defence that earned a British Football League-record run of 14 consecutive clean sheets, scored United’s only goal in the 2008 European Super Cup final, scored an injury time winner against Sunderland last season.
Patrice Evra
Date: January 10th 2006
Transfer fee: £5.5 million
Randon quote: “The older players need to show the younger ones how much of a privilege it is to play for United. Two years ago I started to read a book of the story of Man United and I saw a DVD of the crash at Munich and it made me realise I need to have respect for that shirt because it is a big story and Manchester United is a big family. I don’t just want to say this to look nice in the papers, because it is true – we are a big family here and we have a big story and this is why Manchester United is a club apart. It is always hard to put on that shirt because every day when you do you are putting that story on your back.”
Appearances: 167
Trophies: 3 Premiership titles, 2 League Cups, 1 European Cup, 1 FIFA Club World Cup.
Individual achievements: PFA Team of the Season (2007, 2009).
Highlights: Scoring in United’s 7-1 thrashing of Roma in the European Cup quarter-final.
WORST SIGNINGS
Roy Carroll
Date: July 27th 2001
Transfer fee: £2.5 million
Random quote: “The whole deal has not sunk in yet. I will be working with Fabien Barthez and facing shots from David Beckham in training – it’s incredible.”
Appearances: 72
Trophies: 1 Premiership title, 1 FA Cup.
Eric Djemba-Djemba
Date: July 3rd 2003
Transfer fee: £3.5 million
Random quote: “This is a very proud moment for me. Ever since I was a teenager it has been my dream to play for Manchester United. If the club is signing me it is because they really believe in me.”
Appearances: 39
Trophies: 1 FA Cup
David Bellion
Date: August 1st 2003
Transfer fee: £2 million
Random quote: “I am really excited to be joining Manchester United. When you are young they are one of the clubs you dream of playing for.”
Appearances: 40
Trophies: 0
.
Kléberson
Date: August 12th 2003
Transfer fee: £6.5 million
Random quote: “To be the first Brazilian to sign for United is special. This is the biggest opportunity of my life. I had offers from other clubs but they weren’t Manchester United. What I promise the fans is to give my all on the pitch from the outset.”
Appearances: 30
Trophies: 1 FA Cup
.
Dong Fangzhuo
Date: January 13th 2004
Transfer fee: £500,000
Random quote: “It is a rare opportunity for any player to play for United, so I am very proud of my time there. The time I spent in Europe was priceless and it was an honour to be able to train with some of the best players in the world.”
Appearances: 3
Trophies: 0
@Tony – £14m or whatever it was on a player who, as you rightly point out, “has not even had chance to play in the first team” is a waste of money. Why did we even buy him?
Micheal Carrick signing sparked 3 years of success, period
Besides, I didn’t say he was THE worst. Just one of the worst.
nice list Scott. Does Berbatov remind anyone of one Ukrainian who cost about 30mill , played for Chelsea for about 2 years, You could count the number of goals he scored for them on one hand.
Funny the argument coming from the Chelsea camp those years is similar to what a lot of United fans are saying
1. He’s class
2 He just needs goals and consistency
3. He needs confidence
The surprising thing is i like Berbatov, i like him a lot, but IMHO he a luxury we should only be savoring every other game not on a regular basis
Oh yeah in case you’re still thinking about who the player in question is – SHEVCHENKO (class player but crap at chelsea)
I agree Marq. No coincidence that when Fergie stopped pissing about and experimenting with the likes of Miller, Kleberson, Djemba, O’Shea, Giggs, Smith and company in central midfield and bought one quality central midfielder in Carrick to partner Scholes, we saw an amazing improvement in performances and results.
@Fred 04/05 he did nothing 2 goals because he was injured. Agree with 03/04 but ultimately did little to benefit the team. His last goal was against l’arse in Feb/March that season and didn’t score again. There were a lot of fans who gave him horrendous abuse similar (probably worse) to what Berbatov is getting. I’m not saying you were one of them (neither was I) but since he’s left he’s been getting more praise than when he was here! You say he offered something different to Ruud, well he replaced him for a start by the end of 05/06. 06/07 Larsson was brought in because Smith and Saha were both injured. He did play well for us that season but after that Celtic penalty and one-on-one miss the United fans turned on him and he never really recovered. Everytime I went to games I could hear people moaning about how crap he was, how many chances he missed and how he gave the ball away. I’ll admit he won the Sunderland game for us in 07/08 but apart from that did fuck all. 30 years from now when I’m at the pub with my mates and we’re talking about transfer flops I’m sure his name will be mentioned by one of them probably by someone who doesn’t support United but his view will be backed by both ABUs and United fans. If some people are saying Berbatov should be considered a flop if he doesn’t improve, well in my opinion Saha should be inducted way before he does.
@seni:
I will agree that Berba hasn’t set OT alight, but he has surely done better than the Ukrainian. He hasn’t scored many goals but he has got some important ones as well as some vital assists. For example, Berbatov played a crucial part in the 6 poitns we got against Stoke and Boro last December, as well as the 3 points at the Reebok and at St James Park. That’s 12 points in total. Has he played like 30 million pounds? No. But he hasn’t been anonymous like Sheva was for Chelsea.
I can remember during the 07/08 season towards the end my mate and I made a shortlist of forwards we would like to see at OT that were realistic to buy. Berbatov and Benzema were the only ones. The idea was for Berbatov to come in score 20 goals and be magic with creativity. He has been creative but thats been lost on some of our fans. Unfortunately he hasn’t scored a lot so therefore he’s been deemed flop by some. He isn’t worth £30 million and I don’t think the club was happy to pay that. However we blatantly needed another forward and we left it till deadline day which is why we paid what we did and wrecked Campbells career in the process. Fergie has bought players who have been over priced the same thing happened with Yorke and Stam although those gambles paid off.
@Costas
Well united is a better team than Chelsea so i guess you can say he’s done better than Shevachenko, BUT you cant deny both players seem to be in the same predicament. Its a shame really cos SAF wont be happy, he’ll try to boost his confidence because he knows Berba is a class player and IF he raises his game he could be really something.
I always say to the fans who want us to score lots of goals, play football the right way (what my mate calls the barca-esqe way) is Berba will be the one player we will need if indeed that is the level of football we aspire to get
I also think his team mates havent adapted to him, he has adapted to them, but the gesture hasnt been reciprocated. In fact its a problem we have with our forwards really,
For example Rooney will take the ball anyway you give it to him cos he’s all action, but the honest truth is he would be so so so so much better if he recieved through passes that he could run onto or at least a constant mix, instead 90% of the time the ball is blasted towards him(area) and a 100-0 pass (guaranteed pass)that could easily have been made, now becomes a 50-50 (challenge from a defender or he just barely gets the ball under control)
i dont think defoe at spurs is a better player than rooney, but goodness he’s playing better than him at the moment, why? cos team mates play to his maximum strength.
(sorry to go off topic with the defoe/rooney thing, but just felt it had to be aired
@seni:
Agreed. They are in the same predicament. For one thing, i don’t think many players are worth 30million pounds. I actually blame the press for this. They single out players. Veron costs 28 million? They get on his back straight away. Same for Shevchenko and Berbatov. Rio costs us 30 million, has a shaky first 6 months and not one rag made a fuss about him. Tevez costs Man City (allegedly) well over 30 million pounds and i don’t think they have crucified him the way they are doing with Berbatov. Same for Robinho. I respect every fan’s opinion, but sometimes i tend to wonder how much we allow the tabloids to get in our head.
I am really not trying to say that these players were worth their money, but this issue isn’t black and white in my opinion, despite the tabloids’ sensationalism.
Myself and my brother used to forever play championship manager and my brother came across some guy called Ronaldo , he went nuts on the kid and told me about him he said united should buy him and I remember him saying ” he’ll be as good as a Ronaldo” Then united signed him for 16 million and I taught my god that’s alot for a player only my younger brother heard of. My god how wrong I was
VDS should be in the list ahead of Rooney, much more important signing
gotta hate 16 million? I thought he was 12.
Costas – That is just the problem, far too many fans let the media get inside their heads. Where do you think the term “languid and lazy” for Berba were coined?
Regarding the signing of Carrick this may be a bit off topic. But Adrian Durham on Talksport who NEVER has owt decent to say about United, tonight said Carrick is the best passer of the ball in the Premier league.
seni – I note you mention that Berbatov in the right system could take us to the next level. That is exactly what Mulensteen said last Wednesday. Lets hope Fergie and the coaches find that system as I do believe he could be an outstanding player for United over the next few seasons.
ronaldo was bought for 12.75 mill, and was the best signing in the past decade for me
Saha could play 142 games? …
Veron…
dong fangzhou is the standout worst for me. nani would be up there too.
I’d have to say Ronaldo is the best signing. Not only because of the profit we made off him, but the success he helped us achieve in the past 3 years.
Oh yeah, i forgot about Dong. I went with Kleberson though because he didn’t look anything like the player we had watched at the World Cup in 2002. I still believe that he is a decent player. He just wasn’t made for the Premier League.
The middle of the decade had plenty of misses. Bellion didn’t quite make an impression, but he is doing well at Bordeaux and i am happy for him. Djemba Djemba was a hard battling midfielder. I don’t know where that went wrong. In those days Keano’s shadow was too big for anyone in my opinion. Maybe Djemba suffered from that? Finally, i was sad that Liam MIller didn’t establish himself. I had high hopes for him that summer.
@King Eric:
I think Carrick is one of the best passers, if he is on form. I was watching the reviews for the past 3 seasons and it was amazed to see how many attacking moves(that didn’t necessarily end up as goals) started from him. I hope he can get back to that.
nah ronaldo came for £12.24m
@ King Eric Said :
Man it could be really good, i b’live that mixed with the right set up without even any transfer business , WE could do it, – although new signing wouldnt be bad though
but i’m not holding my breath. I think i’ll let Fergie surprise me
I want to say something
A lot of people went against Veron – but in that second year he was brilliant and then he got injured if I remember correctly in the league cup final and we missed him – esp in the CL where I thought his play was beginning to make sense. Of course SAF decided to get his money back when he sold him to Chelsea but I do wish he had stayed because I reckon he would have bettered himself – but we’ll never know
As for Forlan – same again – Ruud got injured before Christmas that very same year if again I remember correctly and Diego came in and hit some goals. Then I think he was so unfortunate when Ruud came back and he got dropped. Again I think he was an arm around the shoulder type of player and SAF chose to send him on. To be fair he’s been scoring goals left right centre in La Liga so he was never a bad player – just a little to anxious when he first came – understandable but there you go.
I will tell you the best signing of this decade – Edwin Van Der Sar. After Pete – we went through hell finding the right GK. When Edwin came in everything began to fall into place and for the first time since Pete left we were formidable again. I think we need to address that problem of when he goes – I don’t know if TK or BF are good enough.
Hang on! Does no one remember this awful player! Wiped him from your own memories? Maybe because it was thankfully a brief spell…
Massimo Taibi.
Or was that the 90’s?
Rooney for the best singing though. Without a doubt!
cherry Said,
December 22nd, 2009 @11:42
mara..who gives a fuck if a player plays well when he is sold. Bad signing is when you sign a player and he plays bad for you period.
LIKE I SAID….
Maybe he could be good even in Manchester United if they were patient with him like with some other players.
@NorwichRed:
Massimo just didn’t make the 2000s mate! He was brought in during the fall of 99! I think he won the flop of the 90s award didn’t he? Or was it William Prunier?
@MG:
That was a very good comment about Seba. I think he had a fantastic first couple of months in 01-02 and then he tried really hard to become more consistent in 02-03. He had quite a good season, especially while Roy was out for his hip operation. Who can forget his goal and perfomance against Arsenal at Old TRafford? United even started playing good stuff when Roy came back and we played 4-5-1. All that came to a halt as you said in the Cardiff final. I remember that after we lost at Madrid and Scholesy got suspended, i was praying every day that Seba would make the second leg. I believed that he would take Real apart. He came back on time, but he it wasn’t his night. It was a disappointing end to a United career that on paper promised so much. I was ecstatic when we got him. Anyway, he is a very good player and seemed like a decent bloke too. Unlike a couple of Argies that came to the club later on…
Norwich Red – Taibi had a decent game against the dippers bar one mistake but had a shocker against I think Southampton. Another mistake or two after that and he was gone. 2001/2002 season I think, I may be wrong.
Sorry people Ronaldo came in the news I read d’or 16 million been that I live in a euro land, oh and never believe that story that Gary Neville told sir Alex to sign him after united played sporting in a pre season, ronaldos people stuck a deal with united the day before the match when they were all in the same place
@King Eric:
It was the 99-00 season. He came in that game at Anfield in September of 99, hence why i think he belongs in the 90s category. The game that really did him in unfortunately was a 5-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge. We had a terrible time that season with goalkeepers.
ruud is a legend!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H9pTgQY_mo&NR=1
@manci_yanky:
I have never seen that! That was hillarious! I mean, who in their right mind would make fun of Ruud about missing a chance? There’s a very good possibility that he will make you eat your words within 5 minutes!
Costas – I knew you would know, Stamford Bridge the 5-0 defeat. Cheers mate.
Quality post Scott! I especially luv the fact you placed Ruud as ‘the first’ in your list..the man was absolutely PHENOMENAL!
Two goals which have stayed in my mind forever
1) The one he scored against Fulham! The bugger turned his marker, ran past 3 different defenders, then proceeded to control the ball and SCORED with his right foot in ONE movement!
2) The solo goal he scored against a team (I cant remember!) which i believe was a Champions League qualifying game. Watch Scott’s linked tribute video..its the second goal! AWEsome-sauceness! =) =)
Ruud was a goal-scoring God…nuff said =)
man, I missed Ruud when watching that youtube video
He definitely has the Red blood in him. We’ve never had a better forward of his type since then. I hope he’ll come back to OT one day. Anyone thinks there’s a chance that Sir Alex Ferguson will open his arm to Ruud this January or later? (just because he’s almost free now 
)
Good List Scott.
Ronaldo obviously has to be the best, no doubt about that.Really miss Rudd.i will go with him as the 2nd best just ahead of Rio and Rooney. I dont mind saying he was amongst the best 5 strikers United have ever had.SAF will look on and admit one day that selling ruud along with Stam was one of his biggest mistakes. He hasnt made many, has he?. I know we won a lot after he left but we have not had prolific striker since. Ronaldo is not a striker.At this moment the team would do well with a striker like Rudd.RVN loved United. It was sad to see him depart like that especially considering SAF preferred crock king Louis Saha over him.RVN has scored 64 goals in 97 games for the facists despite his injuries. WE really sold him very cheap for 10 million. Was worth atleast 20 million pounds.
@musvn
Dont think so mate. SAF dosent sign players who he has fallen out with back.I would love to see him back myself but he has become very injury prone now. has hardly played for Real this season.
@ aig
“I know we won a lot after he left but we have not had a prolific striker since”.. So true so true =)
Ruud indeed would have benefitted from the style of play we’re currently adopting atm. We desperately need an out-and-out striker who has the uncanny ability to score from ANY position within the box..
I swear, EPL defenders during Ruud’s reign were seriously pissing in their pants trying to defend agst him. Berba and Rooney are quality players, no doubt about that..but in the current league climate..the flashes of intermittent brilliance from Berba and Rooney’s inconsistent form pales in comparison to the presence of a proven, consistent, i’ll-put-the-ball-into-the-goal-no-matter-what mentality in the form of Van the Man..
BUT..no point in wishful thinking imo…lets just cheer the lads we DO have atm to an unprecedented 19th title win!
OoRAH!
@Ruud, Ronaldo, Rooney – R3
spot on mate. One more thing is that we havent had that sort of strike partnership since. Rudd and rooney were brilliant together . Rooney did thje running anc creating while ruud was always there to finish the chances off.Berba and rooney so far havent been able to develop that sort of understanding but i hope they do so. Tevez and rooney were good but not as prolific or threatning as rudd-rooney.The thing defending against RVN was his positioning was always perfect and Rooney pace and awareness drove defenders out of position on many ocassions allowing RVN to score. He only needed one chance most of the times.Good to read that our fans still rate him highly
@ aig
Yup yup. I guess most fans would counter that when Ruud was around, our play was slow as heck (which is still quite true to a certain extent). Him leaving was the catalyst of Ronaldo’s ascendancy which we must be grateful for.
But to see how many fans have come to rate him rather poorly (attitude/personality-wise) over the years (those that I know of mostly) without acknowledging his AMAZING contribution of 150 goals in 219 games seems blasphemous to me.
My God..just speaking of him in terms of his scoring prowess gives me the goosebumps.
Situational-awareness,positioning, heading, shooting, ball-control,turning defenders, penalty taking..he had it all! (yeah..except ‘pace’…well, noone’s THAT perfect!=))
And however much i Loved ronaldo, NOTHING beats the feeling of hearing Utd supporters stadium-wide chanting ‘Ruuuuuuuuuuuuud’..nothing =)
PS No guessing who my Utd hero of all time is, eh? Perhaps i should reconsider changing my nick..rofl =)
Ruud Van Nistelrooy the best striker I’ve seen play at Old Trafford. 150 goals in 219 games is phenomenal. The last forward we had of his class since (before my time) Denis Law. Lets hope its not 30 years till we get another one. Its just a shame he didn’t win more here. He deserved a European Cup medal more than the argie troll! Best Signing – Ronaldo. Worst Signing – Djemba-Djemba. Special Award for getting paid sitting on your arse – Saha.
@ aig
The only other phenomenal striking-partnership that I can think of (in my time) is the Cole-Yorke partnership. Think it was the season Utd scored..80-90 goals or something like that (im not a man for statistics as you can see); was it in ‘99?
Ruud, Ronaldo, Rooney – R3
spot on again. Cole and Yorke were brilliant together.It was the 1999-00 season in which United scored 97 goals in the league. But our defence back than wasnt as good.
in the 2007-08 double winning season we scored 80 goals but conceeded just 22 which is some record. that goals difference of 58 in 07-08 is the highest in BPL history.
@aig
I think Ruud didnt play a lot this season because of all Kaka, Benzema, Ronaldo, Higuain and so on. They’re probably priority in Pellegrini’s list. Real probably set their mind on selling him so there’s no point of letting him play unless it’s urgency. But I think Ruud still gets his rate of goal per game better than anyone else at Madrid, like Micky did when he was there.
To be honest, I was really ok with selling him at that time because I felt that we needed some changes to win trophies.Sometimes I felt he slowed our play and made our game more predictable. Probably this was why we did not win much in his time. But after three years without him, I realize that I really miss him, not only because he’s the type of forward who we need badly atm but also because he loves United badly (Im supposed those gossip about Ruud coming to Anfield is rubbish)
@musvn
Fair enough mate. Its not that he dosent play much but he has been injured for long long time.I dont agree that he slowed our play because most of the times he did not get involved in the build up but just applied the final touch.If he would have stayed we would have still won the double in 07-08.It was just that we lacked a world class player in our team and Ronny decided it was his time from 2006.The defence has improved remarkably since 2006.cant compare evra to silvestre or any central defender we had then to vidic.Rio has matured a lot since 2005. Thats the difference. None of the strikers we signed since owen,tevez or berba are/were as good as RVN.
Don’t see Ruud coming back as a player. If he ever wanted to get involved in coaching (he is a smart guy) he would almost definetely have a roll here.
LEGEND.
Beckham and Van Nistelrooy> any partnership in the last 20 years.
@Fred
dude, u gotta stop hating michael owen, he’s been a great lad and he’s really trying hard to score goals.. i disagree with u naming him as one of the worst signings… we got him for free and he scored the winner in the BEST manchester derby. im not sure bout you, but that game is one of the most memorable one for me.
im sorry if any of u berba lovers disagree with me but seriously, berbatov has got to do better and be more consistent.. 30million and he’s not paying back by scoring goals and playing well
@aig:
I agree, mate. You made your point crossed.
there is a very, VERY good reason why “berba” is dropped for the big games. lazy bastard. I go to OT and away games and watching him on and off the ball in matches, when he decides to join in, honestly he is brilliant, but sadly that’s not nearly often enough. can’t wait til he’s gone.
my worst would be barthez. he was he best goalkeeper on the planet when we bought him. a hort while later his positioning cost us more and more. his mistakes against Madrid cost us the games in 2003. that summed it up for me.
Flops
Liam Miller
Zoran Tosic
Nani
Seba Veron
Forlan
Alan Smith
Barthez
Manucho
after their first 6 months i wonder how many people would have had Vidic and Evra in their worst list ??
Best and Worst…….names that were missed out!!
Best – Denis Irwin, Eric Cantona, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Peter Schmeichel
got i could go on!!
Worst – Tosic (easy), Tiebi (cant spell it, the keeper between schmeichel and Bartez), Cruyff (done the job for every team apart from UTD)
soooo Yeah!!
owwwww and u cant forget – Cole and Yorke!!!