Every African player to play for Manchester United | OneFootball

Manchester United routinely scour the globe for football talent and have been represented by players good, great and not so great from all over the world.

The Red Devils signed Cameroonian forward Bryan Mbeumo as part of an attacking overhaul this summer, and he is already linking up well with Ivorian livewire Amad and Moroccan defender Noussair Mazraoui.

The former Brentford man became the 14th African player to represent the club when he started against Arsenal in August. Here we take a look at every African player to play for United, in chronological order.

1. Quinton Fortune (South Africa)

Man United’s first African player, Fortune arrived at Old Trafford to reinforce a buoyant team which had just won the Treble. The problem was not necessarily with the player, who had built a big reputation in Atletico Madrid’s B team, but with the squad he was brought into.

Fortune played either as a central midfielder or full-back, so was fighting for places with the likes of Paul Scholes, Roy Keane and Denis Irwin. Unsurprisingly he struggled to oust any of them, and when opportunities presented themselves he was invariably sidelined through injury.

Fortune was part of three title-winning squads but didn’t play enough matches in any season to win a medal (although picked one up in 2003 thanks to a special dispensation from the league). He left Old Trafford after 126 games to join Bolton Wanderers, and returned years later to work on his coaching badges, spending a year as U23 assistant coach.

2. Eric Djemba-Djemba (Cameroon)

Sadly, the Cameroonian’s “so good they named him twice” label is dripping in sarcasm, as the midfielder roundly failed to make an impact at Old Trafford. Signed from Nantes, Djemba-Djemba arrived as a potential replacement for Keane – an almost impossible task for anyone and in particular for this Indomitable Lion, who played more like a lost puppy.

After 39 appearances in 18 months with United he embarked on a fascinating football world tour, starting off at Aston Villa and Burnley before spells with clubs in Qatar, Denmark, Israel, Serbia, Scotland, India and Indonesia.

3. Manucho (Angola)

Angolan striker Manucho goes down as another of United’s swing-and-a-miss transfers. Instead of an inspired piece of business from an unlikely source, the forward – who was 24 when United signed him from Angolan side Petro Atletico – played only three times for the Red Devils before joining Hull City on loan then Real Valladolid permanently.

4. Mame Biram Diouf (Senegal)

Casting around for a new striker United signed Mame Biram Diouf from Norwegian side Molde, but if they were hoping for another Ole Gunnar Solskjaer they were sorely disappointed. Sir Alex Ferguson announced that the club acted quickly to secure his signature after other clubs joined the race, but ultimately they need not have bothered. Diouf scored once in nine games for United before departing for Hannover, but left his mark on English football during a 157-game spell with Stoke City.

5. Wilfried Zaha (Ivory Coast)

Zaha was Ferguson’s last signing as United boss but didn’t do anything to carry his legacy forward, managing only four appearances. Loaned straight back to Crystal Palace after joining the Red Devils, Zaha returned to a club managed by David Moyes, who had little interest in integrating the exciting winger.

The Ivorian returned to Palace, via a season on loan at Cardiff City, where he became a club legend. A return to Old Trafford was often mooted but never likely to happen, with the player leaving the Premier League for Galatasaray after 458 appearances for the Eagles.

6. Eric Bailly (Ivory Coast)

The first African player to make a serious impact upon arrival and stake an immediate claim to a first-team spot, Bailly’s bombastic defending was thrilling to watch and hard to play against.

Sometimes rash but always full-throttle, the centre-back was dogged with injuries throughout his time at Old Trafford which meant he was never able to reach the heights his raw talent promised. He was a key part of the side which won the Europa League in 2017, but typically missed the final through suspension after seeing red against Ajax in the semi.

Bailly was never really part of Erik ten Hag’s plans and through no real fault of his own came to be another piece of deadwood in need of hacking out – he was loaned to Marseille then joined Besiktas having played 113 times for United.

7. Odion Ighalo (Nigeria)

Rarely has a player so obviously been living a boyhood dream as Ighalo playing in a United shirt, the number 25 on the back as a nod to the club’s first African player, Fortune. The Nigerian took a pay cut and dropped everything to scramble to Old Trafford on loan from Shanghai Shenhua, hoping to be the answer to the Red Devils’ desperate need for a clinical striker.

That didn’t quite work out, with five goals in 23 games during which he often looked off the pace but never short on effort. He produced a moment of magic with a stunning half-volley against LASK but his time at the Theatre of Dreams ended quickly and he moved to Al Shabab.

8. Amad (Ivory Coast)

United’s longest-serving current African player, Amad joined for big money from Atalanta and promptly faded from view. A decent loan at Rangers was followed by an incendiary one at Sunderland, and by the time the diminutive Ivorian came back to Old Trafford it was as the real deal.

Under Ten Hag, Amad was an exciting attacker providing goals and assists to raise the spirits of an ailing United side, and Ruben Amorim has repurposed him as a marauding wing-back to great effect.

Still only 23, Amad has a bright Old Trafford future ahead of him down the right flank and has satisfyingly proved wrong those who doubted his £37m transfer in 2020.

9. Hannibal (Tunisia)

The Red Devils snapped up Hannibal as part of a recruitment drive to secure the best young talent in Europe, and his acquisition from Monaco was seen as a coup for the Manchester side.

The combative midfielder looked primed to break through into an important role at Old Trafford but his United career never quite took off, shin-kicking cameo against Liverpool aside. He departed with 13 appearances, one goal and a sense of what could have been.

10. Andre Onana (Cameroon)

Onana had big gloves to fill when he was signed to replace David de Gea in the United goal, and despite the odd good performance will mostly be remembered for his substantial blooper reel. The Cameroonian bore the brunt of fans’ frustration as Ten Hag’s time at the club went south, and continued to underwhelm under Amorim.

After 102 appearances for United he left on loan for Trabzonspor, and is unlikely to return following the signing of Senne Lammens. Good with his feet but too often feeble with his hands, that’s probably for the best.

11. Altay Bayindir (Turkey)

Signed a matter of weeks after Onana in a major overhaul of United’s goalkeeping department, Bayindir had to wait for his chance between the sticks. Some 18 months after joining, the former Fenerbahce man got his first Premier League outing in a 4-1 defeat to Newcastle United.

The Turk was handed the perfect opportunity to make the position his own when Onana’s form hit rock bottom and started the season as United’s number 1, but he never really convinced and seems every bit as error-prone as the Cameroonian.

12. Sofyan Amrabat (Morocco)

With United in panic mode over the state of their midfield after Fred’s departure, and scrabbling for a Casemiro contingency plan, they snapped up Amrabat on a deadline day loan deal from Fiorentina.

The high-energy midfielder was a familiar face to Ten Hag, who managed him at Utrecht, but United opted not to make the deal permanent at the end of the season. Amrabat played 30 times and was a reliable performer, getting stuck in either in midfield or as a makeshift left-back, but ultimately the Red Devils pursued Manuel Ugarte from Paris Saint-Germain instead.

13. Noussair Mazraoui (Morocco)

The Moroccan full-back is in with a fair shout of being one of the best pieces of business the Red Devils have managed in the last 20 years. Signed from Bayern Munich for just £12.8m, the Ten Hag favourite immediately strengthened the right side of United’s defence.

Mazraoui has also become a key man under Amorim, who has successfully deployed him either at right wing-back or right-sided centre-back, and at 27 years old is very much in his prime.

14. Bryan Mbeumo (Cameroon)

After an exciting then exhausting transfer saga finally ended with Mbeumo’s arrival at Old Trafford from Brentford, United could congratulate themselves on securing the signature of one of the best attackers in the Premier League.

The powerful Cameroonian grabbed his first United goal in the ill-fated Carabao Cup trip to Grimsby, then followed it up three days later with his first in the league. Mbeumo has made a fantastic start to life at United, and if he can maintain his form there’s no knowing how good he could be.

Featured image Carl Recine via Getty Images

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