The worst Manchester United signings during the Premier League era.
10. Gabriel Obertan
The French winger was supposed to be one of the great hopes of the new generation when he joined the club from Bordeaux in 2009.
However, he wasn’t able to replicate his pre-season form and was quickly shipped out to Newcastle after just a handful of first team performances and he is now struggling to get into their first team and is likely to be moved on again sometime soon in the near future.
9. David Bellion
Alex Ferguson must have been the only one to have seen something in the then sunderland striker as his 20 appearances for the Black Cats yielded just the one solitary goal back in 2003.
And his career at Old Trafford didn’t fare much better as he helped himself to a colossal four goals in 24 appearances over a three years period, though, to be fair to him, much of that time was spent out on loan with the likes of West Ham United and Nice before securing a permanent move back to the latter in 2006.
He is currently still at Nice, on loan from Bordeaux.
8. Kleberson
Kleberson was the captain of the Brazilian national team when he signed on at Old Trafford, having just helped his country to yet another world title in Japan and Korea.
However, his international form could’t translate domestically and after being earmarked as the eventual replacement for Juan Sebastian Veron he made just 20 appearances over the course of two seasons and was sold on to Besiktas for just under half of what they bought him for.
7. Jordi Cruyff
It’s hard not to feel sorry for Jordi. Having began his career with Barcelona and moving to United whilst having to bear the expectation of the name on his back before seeing his career wind down to such places as the Ukraine and the Maltese Premier League.
Luckily, he only cost the club around £1.4m, but his return of 38 games in four years at the Theatre of Dreams, in which he bagged a meagre eight goals, probably meant that even that paltry fee was still too much.
6. Mark Bosnich
‘Bozzie’ was supposed to be the great answer to life after Peter Schmeichel, and after his successful seven years with Aston Villa the club appeared to be in safe hands once again.
Things started off brightly as he helped the club to win the Intercontinental Championship, and picked up a Premier League winners medal after a promising first season.
However, the wheels quickly came off and he suffered thanks largely to a slew of off field problems and was quickly dropped and moved on to Chelsea.
5. Eric Djemba-Djemba
Eric Djemba ‘so bad they named him twice’ Djemba was a complete mystery when he arrived at the club during a strange period that also saw the likes of David Bellion through the doors as Ferguson apparently tried to buy some new young players rather than going with the previously successful method of growing them.
Shipped out to Aston Villa after 20 appearances in two years, he is now winding down his career in Serbia.
4. Massimo Taibi
The Italian was brought in as an antidote to the antidote, but sadly all he will be remembered for is a series of comical errors that left scars on many a United fan of a certain age.
His United career lasted four games (literally, that’s it) and was left with the nickname ‘The Blind Venetian’ after a disastrous 5-0 defeat to Chelsea following his gaffe against Southampton that saw a Matt Le Tissier shot creep between his legs.
3. Diego Forlan
It may seem unfair that Forlan be on this list given everything he went on to do in the game after his stint at Old Trafford, but to put it bluntly; he stunk at United.
After arriving to much pomp in the 2001/02 season, he took nearly a year to finally get himself off the mark and then when he did he found it incredibly hard to replicate and left the club in 2004 with a very sorry looking ten league goals from just shy of 100 appearances.
2. Ashley Young
At Villa, Young was one of the most exciting English youth prospects to come around in a long time and lit up the Premier League with his clever trickery and pinpoint delivery from wide positions.
But the bulk of his time at United has been spent on his backside, wither in the treatment room or on the floor looking at the referee as he brandishes an imaginary yellow card.
Even the club’s fans have now apparently lost patience with him and his £18m fee now appears to have been wasted and he could be moved on to Turkey in the new year if things don’t improve dramatically.
1. Bebe
Out of all of them, Bebe must go down as the worst signing in the club’s history. Reportedly signed after then assistant manager Carlos Queiroz recommended him on the strength of a performance watched on DVD for a whopping £7m (though reports in Portugal suggested it was nearer £9m).
No problem, everyone thought. He’s young, he still has time to grow and adapt to the league, £7m for a prospect like that isn’t such a bad price after all! However, it became apparent pretty quickly that he wasn’t up to the grade and wasn’t likely to make much of an impact at the club.
He is still there too, only now enduring his third consecutive loan spell (currently with Paços de Ferreira) and is not likely to return unless it is to pack his things once his contract expires.