Not many people can dispute Sir Alex Ferguson's record in the transfer market during his imperious reign as Manchester United boss.

It's often understated how important it is to replenish a successful side; just look at Real Madrid this season and you'll see how important it is to never stand still, no matter how good your squad is.

Ferguson won the Premier League 13 times, the FA Cup five times, the League Cup four times and the Champions League twice during his stay at Old Trafford and to do that, he made sure he had top players at all times.

Of course, he was aided by the Class of '92, but he made a genius signing or two seemingly every season. Robin van Persie, anyone?

He attempted another masterstroke back in 2012 - one of his final ever signings as it turned out - when he signed a Manchester City wonderkid.

City would go on to win their first Premier League title that season and it was truly the start of their status as a European heavyweight once again.

But, in January, Ferguson would sign Swiss centre-back Frederic Veseli on a free transfer from their bitter rivals, a player who had captained his country to victory at the 2009 Under-17 World Cup.

"I am very happy and it is an honour to sign for Manchester United," said Veseli at the time.

"I can't wait to get started. I am looking forward to showing everybody what I can do on the pitch. I am very thankful to [United manager] Sir Alex Ferguson for bringing me to such a great club," he added.

"Manchester United has a long history of younger players coming through and hopefully I can follow and do the same."

Hmm. It didn't quite work out as Veseli hoped, unfortunately. The defender was released at the end of this 18-month deal in July 2013 without making one solitary appearance for the Red Devils.

Ipswich would snap him up for nothing, but he only played one game in a League Cup tie during his two-year stay at Portman Road.

Loan spells Bury and Port Vale brought more playing time, but he eventually returned home to Switzerland to play for Lugano. After 12 months there, Veseli headed to Empoli and suffered relegation from Serie A.

However, now 26, Veseli is the vice-captain of Empoli in Serie B and they are currently top on goal difference. He has also gone on to be capped eleven times at international level - but not for Switzerland - for Albania.

Shortly after signing the youngster, Ferguson explained to MUTV how the deal was made.

"It actually came about by chance that," Ferguson said. "A member of our scouting department came and told us City had released this young lad from Switzerland and they'd watched him playing a couple of years back.

"There was nothing to be lost. We thought we'd take him until the end of the season and see how he does. Hopefully he does well."