Ranking Man Utd’s 10 post-Fergie January transfer window signings… | OneFootball

Manchester United often don’t even bother with the January transfer window, perhaps scarred by the memory of their worst signing of the post-Ferguson era. But it also prompted their very best…

United are reported to be in the market for January recruits, though they appear to have missed out on Antoine Semenyo.

If they sign another forward before midfielder, frankly, the club should be folded. But reports suggest they could also be in the market for Ruben Neves. Which, unless he leaves his legs in Saudi, seems like a good idea.

As did most of these January signings. Even this fella at no.10…

10) Alexis Sanchez

Rated on these pages as the worst of all the post-Fergie signings, which is really quite an achievement when you consider your Di Marias, your Sanchos, your Pogbas. But Sanchez admitted he wanted to quit United and return to Arsenal after only his first training session. Sadly for him and United, there was no return policy on the £35million swap deal that saw Henrikh Mkhitaryan join the Gunners.

Then the highest-paid player ever in the Premier League, Sanchez stuck it out for 32 league appearances, scoring three goals while barely hiding his contempt for his surroundings.

In fairness to United, no one saw it going this badly wrong when he was tinkling the ivories for his unveiling video. In Sanchez, they had signed one of the Premier League’s best players. But, even by United standards, the immediate slump in the Chilean’s output once he walked through the Old Trafford door was damning on all concerned. In the end, they had to pay him millions just to f*** off, which was far better value than the millions they paid him to play.

9) Victor Valdes

At Barcelona, Valdes won everything in one of the greatest teams of all time. So it was quite striking to see him as barely a bit-part at United after he signed for 18 months as a freebie for Louis van Gaal in January 2015.

Valdes played two games for United, serving as understudy to compatriot David De Gea before p*ssing off Van Gaal to the extent he wasn’t allowed to train even with the youth team or allowed a locker for his Rolex while he worked out alone with an academy goalkeeping coach.

8) Jack Butland

Arriving on loan from Palace in January 2023, ex-England stopper Butland was just one of a few odd goalkeeper signings made by United, replacing another in Martin Dubravka. At least Dubravka got his gloves dirty twice. Butland never made it off the bench for the club he supported as a boy, even if he took an FA Cup runners-up medal back to Palace with him.

7) Wout Weghorst

The Netherlands international is widely derided on the basis that he failed to score a Premier League goal in his half-season at Old Trafford. Which isn’t a good look for a centre-forward.

But after a loan switch from Burnley, with the Clarets splitting £3million with Besiktas, Weghorst endeared himself to the United faithful just by running around a bit and showing an appetite to be there. That’s how low the bar was for a fanbase fed up of watching Anthony Martial’s mard-arse saunter around Old Trafford.

He scored two cup goals, won the Carabao Cup and generally seemed to relish his big opportunity. But, enthusiastic though he was, he was never likely to be the top-class striker Erik ten Hag needed.

6) Marcel Sabitzer

Ten Hag had to hurriedly spin through his Rolodex during the final days of the January 2023 transfer window as soon as it emerged that Christian Eriksen would be out for three months after bumping into Andy Carroll in a bad mood.

As the first Austrian to play for United, Sabitzer scored three goals in 18 appearances and had a hand in the Carabao Cup triumph by coming off the bench in the final against Newcastle. When his loan was up, everyone concerned seemed pretty non-plussed about the prospect of making it a longer-term arrangement. He did okay but his impact was negligible.

In the end, Sabitzer returned to Bayern Munich before being sold to Borussia Dortmund.

5) Odion Ighalo

United’s move for Ighalo in January 2020 sparked a new genre of transfer: an Ighalo-type move, one defined as late, desperate and short-term. See: Weghorst.

In that sense, Ighalo served his purpose. Arriving from Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua in January 2020, he bagged five goals in 19 appearances in the Covid season to earn a six-month extension before heading off to Al Shabab to complete the lucrative CSL-Pro League double bubble.

4) Patrick Dorgu

The jury is still out on Dorgu but a year on from his arrival from Lecce, a verdict is surely imminent. Frankly, though, it doesn’t look encouraging. And the slim possibility that he might yet come good means he ranks higher than his performances so far merit.

The Denmark international is still only 21 with less senior experience than many peers of a similar age so it was unfair to expect him to hit the ground running. But it is hard to identify many redeeming features in the left wing-back. He’s quick, sure. But can you recall him giving many opposition full-backs a hard time? There is certainly little encouragement to be found in a record of no goals and three assists in 37 appearances. Dorgu was Amorim’s first signing but wing-backs on both sides are among the areas United are still considered weakest.

3) Juan Mata

The spectacle of club-record signing Mata being choppered into Carrington to join United in January 2014 summed up the post-Fergie United. Or rather the post-David Gill United. The Woodward United.

Not that any of that was Mata’s fault. And for much of his career at United, the former Spain playmaker was a pleasure to watch. Never more than in March 2015 at Juanfield. And the fact he’s a good egg did him no harm, even if he rarely dragged United to new heights as one might expect of a creative record signing.

Mata spent seven and a half years at Old Trafford, scoring 51 goals in 285 appearances, winning four trophies. Never the big ones, but United haven’t been in a position to be sniffy about silverware.

2) Amad Diallo

The Diallo deal was arranged in October 2020 to be completed the following January. And for a while, it looked like more money down the drain when the winger struggled to make a first-team breakthrough. A loan move to Sunderland went much better than an earlier stint at Rangers and eventually, three years after he joined, Amad began to get some regular minutes in the second half of the 2023/24 season under Ten Hag.

When Ten Hag was binned, Amad was expected to be one of the players to profit from Amorim’s appointment and the sudden need for wing-backs. Indeed, were it not for an ankle injury last season, he would be in the top three players with most minutes under Amorim. Amad can play as wing-back or as one of the wide forwards. He probably prefers the latter but is needed more as the former.

1) Bruno Fernandes

Fernandes has been the single consistent bright spot on a rather bleak landscape since he arrived from Sporting Lisbon pre-Covid in 2020. Immediately dismiss the opinion of anyone who pushes the claim that Fernandes has been ‘a problem’, or indeed anything but the best, most creative signing of the last dozen years. Imagine how bad United would have been without him.