After 18 years of protests, controversy, disillusion and division, the Glazer family’s time in charge of football operations at Manchester United came to an end after Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS’ purchase of a 25 percent stake in the club in early 2024.
United had been debt-free until the Glazers invested just £270 million (£346m) of their own money into the £790m ($1 billion) deal that saw them become new owners back in 2005, with the rest borrowed against the club. And the Glazers have been accused of using the Red Devils as a cash cow to fund their business empire in the United States ever since.
They haven’t attempted to build any bridges with the United faithful either, rarely bothering to attend matches or push through Old Trafford expansion plans. Co-chairman Joel Glazer has overseen the business side of things for United from the comforts of his office in Washington, which serves as further proof of their status as absentee owners.
However, no one could ever accuse the Glazers of failing to invest in the first-team squad. United have spent over £2bn ($2.6bn) on new players since their arrival, including a club-record outlay of £210m ($269m) in the 2022 summer transfer window. And, United have won 13 major trophies under the American family, including five Premier League titles and the Champions League.
But regular silverware has proven hard to come by for the Red Devils since Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure as manager in 2013, with most of the club’s most high-profile signings proving to be huge disappointments. Money doesn’t always guarantee success, as BALLGM is here to highlight with our definitive ranking of United’s biggest flop signings of the Glazer era:
After 18 years of protests, controversy, disillusion and division, the Glazer family’s time in charge of football operations at Manchester United came to an end after Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS’ purchase of a 25 percent stake in the club in early 2024.
United had been debt-free until the Glazers invested just £270 million (£346m) of their own money into the £790m ($1 billion) deal that saw them become new owners back in 2005, with the rest borrowed against the club. And the Glazers have been accused of using the Red Devils as a cash cow to fund their business empire in the United States ever since.
They haven’t attempted to build any bridges with the United faithful either, rarely bothering to attend matches or push through Old Trafford expansion plans. Co-chairman Joel Glazer has overseen the business side of things for United from the comforts of his office in Washington, which serves as further proof of their status as absentee owners.
However, no one could ever accuse the Glazers of failing to invest in the first-team squad. United have spent over £2bn ($2.6bn) on new players since their arrival, including a club-record outlay of £210m ($269m) in the 2022 summer transfer window. And, United have won 13 major trophies under the American family, including five Premier League titles and the Champions League.
But regular silverware has proven hard to come by for the Red Devils since Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure as manager in 2013, with most of the club’s most high-profile signings proving to be huge disappointments. Money doesn’t always guarantee success, as BALLGM is here to highlight with our definitive ranking of United’s biggest flop signings of the Glazer era:
Still the world’s most-expensive defender, Harry Maguire has endured a rollercoaster ever since arriving at Old Trafford from Leicester City in a blockbuster £80m ($102m) deal in 2019. The England international was installed as United captain barely six months after joining the club, but he never looked like the right fit for a leadership role, and it was no surprise when he was stripped of the armband in the summer of 2023 after initially falling down the pecking order under Erik ten Hag.
The record price tag has made Maguire an easy target for critics, with any glaring mistakes or unfortunate moments instantly pounced upon by fans on social media. The 31-year-old eventually won Ten Hag over through hard work and has become a stalwart for Ruben Amorim, but he will never be an elite centre-back, and his continued presence in the United team only serves to further highlight how far they have fallen as a collective in recent years.
Ferguson had his fair share of bad buys before bringing the curtain down on his glorious 26-year reign at Old Trafford, including Brazilian ace Anderson – who joined United from Porto for £26m ($33m) in the summer of 2007.
Anderson had been recommended to Ferguson by his brother Martin, who famously insisted that the midfielder was “better than Wayne Rooney”. His debut campaign was encouraging enough, as he featured in 38 games to help United win a Premier League and Champions League double – albeit without scoring a single goal.
Fitness issues began to hamper Anderson thereafter, though, and he was unable to force his way back into United’s starting XI ahead of Paul Scholes or Michael Carrick. Anderson was finally released in February 2015, and former Red Devils coach Mick Clegg later revealed the main reason behind his failure in Manchester.
“Anderson was more than capable of being an absolute stormer of a player,” Clegg told The Athletic. “He just needed his head knocking. He didn’t keep fit. He chose not to put in the work, so it’s hard to have too much sympathy for him. He was a party animal.”
Mkhitaryan was snapped up from Borussia Dortmund for £26m ($33m) in July 2016, and he had his moments during his two-year stay at United. The Armenia international scored six goals during the run to Europa League glory in his first season, including one in the final, and also netted a memorable scorpion kick in a Premier League clash against Sunderland.
But he also developed a reputation for going missing in the biggest games, and he eventually lost the favour of head coach Jose Mourinho before being sold to Arsenal in a swap deal involving Alexis Sanchez. He also struggled for consistency with the Gunners, but has since shown the kind of form that initially attracted United to his talents in Serie A.
United spent £17m (£22m) to sign Hargreaves from Bayern Munich in 2007, despite the fact he had missed the majority of his final season at Allianz Arena after suffering a broken leg. The gamble initially paid off as he enjoyed a solid debut campaign, which included a stellar Champions League final showing against Chelsea.
But the England international only made five more appearances for the Red Devils after that night in Moscow. Hargreaves’ body began to let him down, and after two knee surgeries that failed to reignite his career, United released him in 2011. He went on to join United’s arch-rivals Manchester City, but only played one league game before retiring at the age of 31.
In his second biography, Ferguson named Hargreaves as the worst signing of his tenure, writing: “He had definite value. But it was all lost in the fog of his lack of games.”
After three underwhelming years at Bordeaux, Obertan was handed the chance of a lifetime when United forked out a reported £3m fee to bring him to Old Trafford in July 2009. No one was more surprised by the move than former United defender Laurent Blanc, who was in charge of Bordeaux at the time.
“He must overcome psychological and mental challenges so he can express his true value,” said Blanc. The warning was never heeded by Obertan, who only scored once in 28 appearances during his two-year stay in Manchester.
After seeing Cristiano Ronaldo depart for Real Madrid, Obertan proved to be an unworthy replacement; and became something of a journeyman after being sold to Newcastle in 2011.
Barcelona legend Valdes first arrived at Old Trafford in October 2014 to complete his rehabilitation from a knee injury, which had scuppered his chances of a move to Monaco. The Spaniard signed an 18-month contract with the Red Devils in the new year, but he only featured in two games for the club before being offloaded to Middlesbrough.
The writing was on the wall for Valdes when then-manager Louis van Gaal alleged that the goalkeeper refused to play in a reserve game. He was excluded from the United squad photo for the 2015-16 season and stripped of his dressing room locker as a result, but didn’t hold onto any bitter feelings towards Van Gaal.
“He’s like a father figure to me,” Valdes told Sky Sports after his exit. “I don’t want to remember the last six months in a bad way – for me, he is top. We are still friends and there is no problem between us.”
Schneiderlin was attracting attention from a whole host of top clubs after proving himself as one of the most consistent midfielders in the Premier League at Southampton, and United won the race for his signature by striking a £30m ($39m) deal in July 2015.
The France international made 38 appearances in all competitions during his maiden campaign, and picked up an FA Cup winners’ medal, but was benched for the showpiece victory against Crystal Palace. He then became a regular substitute as Mourinho was drafted in to replace Van Gaal, and left United to join Everton for £20m ($26m) after making just two Premier League appearances in 2016-17.
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Bebe was a complete unknown when he joined United from Vitoria de Guimaraes for £7m in 2010, both to United fans and Ferguson himself. “I know Real Madrid were hovering and so were Benfica,” Ferguson has since admitted when quizzed on the signing. “It was one of those decisions that had to be made quickly.
“Sometimes you have to go on instinct and sometimes you have to trust your staff as well. This was a first for me, but we rate our scouting department very highly and our scout in Portugal was adamant we needed to do something.”
The winger only featured in seven games in his first season before being sent out on loan to Besiktas, Rio Ave and Pacos de Ferreira, and Benfica finally took him off United’s hands in 2014.
Bebe told Marca the following year: “I had a contract with a termination clause of €9m and within two days there was a team that wanted to pay it. And I went to Manchester. I thought they were joking.” It’s fair to say that this particular deal was a complete calamity across the board.
Big things were expected of Zaha when he completed a £15m ($19m) switch to United from Crystal Palace in 2013. The 20-year-old had been personally convinced to join the Red Devils by Ferguson himself, who had tracked his progress at Selhurst Park over the previous three years.
But when he eventually arrived at Old Trafford, Ferguson was gone, and he was essentially treated as an unwanted nuisance by his successor, David Moyes. Zaha only spent 167 minutes on the pitch as a United player as he also failed to convince Van Gaal of his worth, before returning to Palace permanently in 2015.
Damaging reports regarding his life off the pitch also played a part in unsettling Zaha, who told The Sun in 2018: “I went through so much with United. There were rumours that the reason I wasn’t playing for United was because I slept with David Moyes’ daughter, and no one attempted to clear that up. When I was at United I had money, but I was still so down and depressed.”
United thought that they’d pulled off one of the biggest coups of the 2014 summer transfer window by signing Falcao on loan from Monaco, where he had scored 11 goals in 20 Ligue 1 appearances the previous season.
Falcao had earned a reputation as one of Europe’s most deadly strikers after prolific spells at Porto and Atletico Madrid, but injuries started to slow him down at Monaco. Despite those warning signs, United still put a total of £16m ($20m) into the deal including wages, and it proved to be a huge mistake.
United passed up their buy option on the Colombian after he managed just four goals in 29 matches. That decision was vindicated when Falcao went on to endure a similarly unsuccessful stint at Chelsea, with English audiences never seeing the best of El Tigre.
United haven’t had much luck with the No.7 shirt since seeing Ronaldo’s first spell at the club end in 2009. As a 21-year-old, Depay seemed to have the potential to follow in the footsteps of the Portuguese, having finished the 2014-15 campaign as the Eredivisie’s top scorer with 22 goals for PSV.
The Red Devils were impressed enough to part with £31m ($40m) to secure Depay’s signature, but it quickly became apparent that he wasn’t cut out for life in the Premier League. The Netherlands international was sold to Lyon in January 2017 after recording just seven goals in 53 appearances for United, with Mourinho later explaining why he never made the grade at Old Trafford.
“I read something about Wayne Rooney telling that Memphis went to a reserve match playing with the kids and he arrived with this big Rolls Royce and his cowboy hat and that was a little bit of Memphis,” the former United boss told talkSPORT. “There are fantastic players to fight with you for a position [at the biggest clubs]. They lose a little bit of their sense of reality and they become a little bit childish, which was, in the end, what happened.”
No one really understood why United decided to invest £40m ($53m) in Ajax midfielder Van de Beek in September 2020, and four years later, it still doesn’t make any sense. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was well-stocked in Van de Beek’s position at the time of his arrival, and was clearly reluctant to use the Dutchman right from the very start.
Van de Beek hoped for a new lease of life after being reunited with his former Ajax boss Ten Hag, but form and fitness have continued to prove elusive for the 27-year-old over the past two seasons.
Eintracht Frankfurt offered Van de Beek an escape route after the playmaker signed a six-month loan deal at Deutsche Bank Park early in the 2024 January transfer window, but he failed to find any form in the Bundesliga, and Eintracht turned down the chance to sign him on a permanent basis. Instead, Van de Beek joined Girona that summer, as the Spanish side will initially paid a paltry £450,000 ($575k) to finally rid United of the Netherlands international.
Pogba initially rose through the youth ranks at United, and was earmarked as one of the club’s most promising talents during Ferguson’s final years at the helm. However, he left Old Trafford to join Juventus in 2012 after rejecting a new contract that Mino Raiola said “even my dog wouldn’t sign”, and established himself among Europe’s elite midfielders over the next four years.
United paid a then-world record £89m ($114m) fee to re-sign the French playmaker in 2016, as he insisted that he still had unfinished business in Manchester. Pogba made over 200 appearances for the club, and proved to be a match-winning performer when firing on all cylinders due to his exceptional passing range, strength and impressive footballing IQ.
The problem was, he never showed the desire to consistently reach those heights, with persistent injuries also holding him back. Pogba only won the Europa League and League Cup in his six-year stay at United, with the fans turning against him long before his exit in the summer of 2022.
After his subsequent return to Juventus, the World Cup winner said: “I came back to Juve because it’s really the club that helped me push myself. And really the love from the fans, the love from the club that I get, I didn’t get that in Manchester.”
Lukaku looked like a sure thing when United lured him to the club from Everton for £75m ($96m) in 2017, after three hugely impressive years at Goodison Park. He scored 68 Premier League goals for the Toffees, including 25 in his final season, and seemed to be the final piece in Mourinho’s tactical puzzle at Old Trafford.
The Belgian hit the ground running and finished his first campaign at United with 28 goals in all competitions, but Mourinho’s side didn’t win any silverware and Lukaku didn’t deliver when it really counted in matches against the top-six clubs. His first touch and finishing let him down on the biggest stage, and it wasn’t too much of a surprise when his numbers declined in 2018-19, with Mourinho sacked mid-way through what proved to be a disastrous season.
The Portuguese tactician failed to heed a strong warning from Everton’s former director of football Steve Walsh, who told The Athletic after seeing United sell Lukaku to Inter: “When Jose [Mourinho] signed Romelu Lukaku from Everton, I remember saying to him, ‘You have to be careful with Lukaku. He is a big baby’.”
It took United the best part of two years to finally agree a deal with Borussia Dortmund for Sancho, but a modest return of 12 goals and six assists from 83 games suggests they shouldn’t have wasted £72m (93m) on the enigmatic winger.
Sancho was a shadow of the dynamic, unpredictable winger that lit up German football in his youth during his first three seasons at Old Trafford, and United jumped at the chance to send him back to Dortmund on loan at the start of the 2024 January window before he joined Chelsea on a loan-to-buy deal in the early weeks of the following campaign.
Ten Hag initially exiled Sancho from his squad in early 2023 due to concerns over his mental and physical state, which marked the beginning of a rift between player and manager. The 24-year-old worked his way back into the first-team fold before seeing his application in training questioned by Ten Hag ahead of a crunch game against Arsenal in September 2023, and has only made one appearance, in the Community Shield, for United since.
Sancho publicly voiced his frustration and subsequently refused to apologise to Ten Hag, effectively ending his United career in the process as he went on to spend time out on loan back at Dortmund and subsequently at Chelsea. The England international was dubbed a “troublemaker” amid that standoff with Ten Hag, but the harsh reality is he just hasn’t been good enough for the Red Devils as he continues to spend time out on loan, this time at Aston Villa.
Di Maria joined United on the back of a Man-of-the-Match-winning display in Real Madrid’s 2014 Champions League final victory over Atletico Madrid, but failed to live up to his then-British record £60m ($77m) price tag.
The Argentine still had the magic in his boots, as evidenced by a sublime chipped effort in a 5-3 Premier League loss to Leicester, but he struggled to express himself freely in Van Gaal’s rigid set-up and his family had real difficulty adjusting to life in Manchester.
United did well to recoup £44m ($56m) on their initial investment when Paris Saint-Germain swooped to end Di Maria’s Old Trafford nightmare after just one season. And the winger was honest enough to admit he was never the right fit for the Red Devils, telling Le Parisien after his departure: “I didn’t have a great relationship with the coach, so I think the decision to join Paris was the best solution.
“Life in England was a bit difficult. It is not easy for a South American. Some people get on fine, and for others it is harder to adapt.”
The Red Devils wheeled out a grand piano for Sanchez to play ‘Glory, Glory Man United’ in probably the most ill-advised announcement video in football history. The Chilean was sensational at Arsenal, but questions were asked about his on-field demeanour in his final few months at the club, and United fans soon found out why firsthand.
Sanchez seemed content to pocket his reported £14m-per-year wages in exchange for minimal effort as he scored just three goals for United over the course of a dismal one-and-a-half season spell. The former Barcelona star stopped dribbling at his opponents, shooting from distance, and taking the risks in possession that made him so difficult to pin down at Arsenal.
“I think in every job you have when you are not happy it is not so easy to perform at every level,” Mourinho told The Telegraph after leaving United in 2019. “But the reality is that I always felt [of Sanchez], ‘a sad man’.”
Meanwhile, Arsene Wenger, Sanchez’s former manager at Arsenal, said of his struggles: “I believe he has lost confidence. The strength of Alexis Sanchez is to show initiative, to dribble, to take people on. These players are the most vulnerable when they have no confidence anymore because their game is based on feeling free to take the initiative.”
Sanchez was loaned to Inter for the duration of the 2019-20 campaign before joining the Nerazzurri outright, as United were left reeling from one of the most disastrous deals of the modern Premier League era.
Rasmus Hojlund was always fighting a losing battle at Old Trafford. United’s decision to spend £72m on a 20-year-old striker who had only scored nine Serie A goals in one full season at Atalanta was, at best, misguided, and at worst, completely nonsensical.
Unsurprisingly, it quickly became clear Hojlund was not ready to be United’s first-choice No.9. It took the Denmark international 15 games to notch his first Premier League goal, and although he finished his maiden campaign with 16 across all competitions, questions were raised over his quality on the ball and composure in the final third.
Hojlund did nothing to silence his doubters in 2024-25, finding the net just four times in 32 Premier League appearances. Ruben Amorim appeared to quickly lose trust in the 22-year-old after replacing Erik ten Hag as manager, even going so far as to play Kobbie Mainoo as a false nine ahead of him as United fell into the bottom half of the table.
It was no surprise when Amorim made signing a new centre-forward his top priority in the summer window, and United immediately began looking for a buyer for Hojlund after snapping up RB Leipzig star Benjamin Sesko, despite the Dane’s pleas that he was willing to fight for his place.
Napoli have stepped forward to give Hojlund a clean slate in the familiar surroundings of Italy, and he must embrace it as he still has plenty of potential to unlock, though he desperately needs to rebuild his confidence after crumbling under the weight of unfair pressure and unrealistic expectations at United.
Ten Hag made plenty of missteps during his United tenure, but signing Antony ranks right at the very top. The Dutchman felt Antony’s fighting qualities would be perfect for the Red Devils after working with him for two years at Ajax, but the enigmatic winger has struggled with the jump up in level from the Eredisivie to the Premier League.
Antony only scored eight goals in his debut season at United, and then backed that up with just three strikes in 2023-24. He has been labelled as being predictable by his critics, while he is surprisingly slow on the ball. The Brazilian works hard enough, but tends to play with his head down and almost never picks the right option in the final third.
Opposition defenders are able to stop Antony in his tracks far too easily because he’s so reliant on his left foot, and the Red Devils have lost their potency in attack because of his ineptitude. The 25-year-old was so clearly not up the standard required of a United player, which is why the club took a massive financial hit to offload him permanently to Real Betis despite how much he impressed during a loan spell at the Spanish club.
Talk about throwing £85m ($109m) down the drain!
Beating Antony to the top of this list is no easy feat, but Andre Onana is a truly special case. The calamitous Cameroon goalkeeper is not just the worst signing of the Glazer era, he’s the worst in United’s entire history, and perhaps even the Premier League’s.
Onana was initially billed as an upgrade on David de Gea after he arrived from Inter in the summer of 2023 for a £48m fee, having played a key role in the Italian club’s run to the Champions League final. He was supposed to be United’s answer to Alisson and Ederson, a ball-playing ‘keeper who could elevate the team to genuine title contenders, and the expectation was he would hit the ground running after being reunited with his former boss at Ajax, Ten Hag.
But right from day one, quite literally, something seemed wrong. Onana’s distribution in United colours has never been even close to the level it was at Inter; in fact, fans automatically hold their breath whenever the ball is played back to him, because 99 percent of the time, he will either smash it out of play or give the ball straight to the opposition.
He is also incapable of commanding his box, and anytime he does come off his line, it sparks automatic panic in the defence. Positionally, Onana is all over the place and his communication skills are sorely lacking. Those are all weaknesses that could be forgiven, or at least papered over, if Onana’s shot-stopping was up to scratch, but that is the biggest hole in his game of all.
Onana has made so many basic handling errors that it would take far too long to list them all here. He has been single-handedly responsible for some of United’s most embarrassing defeats over the past two years, including the recent reversal at League Two Grimsby Town in the Carabao Cup, because he seemingly does not know how to get his body behind the ball or have the reactions to deal with simple shots that should be meat and drink for any professional goalkeeper.
It’s quite astounding that he has been allowed to stay at Old Trafford this long, given his gross incompetence. There is a new entry in Onana’s reel of shame every time he takes to the pitch, and United have genuine grounds to terminate his contract on the spot without paying any compensation. He has been a monumental failure who doesn’t deserve another chance at the top level when he is finally kicked to the curb.
