Every Italian to ever play for Manchester United | OneFootball

Manchester United have not had too many players come from the great footballing nation of Italy over the years. Nonetheless, here is a comprehensive list of every Italian to pull on a red shirt in competitive action.

Every Italian to ever play for Manchester United

1) Matteo Darmian The Italian full-back joined Louis van Gaal’s United in the summer of 2015 from Torino. He played 92 times for the club, making him the Italian who has played the most games for the club.

Darmian struggled to settle into life at the club, but he did win an FA Cup, League Cup and Europa League during his time at Old Trafford. He also found success back in Italy after leaving the club in 2019, first of all for Parma before spending six successful seasons at Inter Milan.

2) Carlo Sartori Sartori was the first Italian player to represent the club as he joined way back in 1965. Born in Italy, he moved to Manchester as a child and came through the club’s famed youth system.

His appearance versus Tottenham Hotspur in 1968 was important as he became the first non-British or Irish player to represent the club.

He would later return to Italy in 1973 to play for Bologna.

3) Federico Macheda

Macheda may not have lasted long at United, but he certainly had the best moment for an Italian in a red shirt at United. His spin and curling effort versus Aston Villa brought Old Trafford to elation as the winning goal proved to be crucial in the title race of 2009.

All in all, he played 36 games for the club, scoring five goals.

4) Giuseppe Rossi Rossi failed to have much impact at Old Trafford and only played 14 games for United.

Nonetheless, he went on to have a very successful career in Spain, scoring numerous goals for Villarreal.

5) Rodrigo Possebon

Possebon made eight appearances for the first team and represented Italy under-20s. He played in the youth teams at the club but failed to make much of an impact.

6) Massimo Taibi One of the most famous Italians to play for United, but for all the wrong reasons.

He actually made a fantastic debut in a win over Liverpool at Anfield, but all he is widely remembered for is his disastrous display versus Southampton in 1999 when he let a tame Matthew Le Tissier effort bobble and squirm past his body in a 3-3 draw.

Taibi was not afforded more opportunities and left the club later that season.