It’s been a bumpy ride for Manchester United in the years since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement.
The Scot brought his hugely successful reign in charge at Old Trafford to an end in 2013, bowing out with a 13th Premier League title.
Incredibly, the Red Devils have had four different managers since Fergie’s retirement, and there’s been a revolving door of players as well.
The club have signed 33 players in a desperate attempt to maintain their success during the 1990s and 2000s, spending at every available opportunity.
Some, like Anthony Martial and Juan Mata, have been successful, but there have been a number of flops as well.
ESPN have ranked every signing United have made post-Ferguson into three categories: the good, the bad and the ugly. Let’s get into it…
The good
- Juan Mata
- Anthony Martial
- Marouane Fellaini
- Daley Blind
- Nemanja Matic
- Romelu Lukaku
- Eric Bailly
- Sergio Romero
- Zlatan Ibrahimovic
- Harry Maguire
- Daniel James
- Aaron Wan-Bissaka
- Bruno Fernandes
- Odion Ighalo
- Lee Grant
Lukaku’s inclusion in this category is interesting. He was signed for £90 million in 2017 and is no longer at the club, which isn’t something to celebrate.
Ibrahimovic, who netted 29 goals in 53 appearances, is perhaps their best signing since Fergie retired. The Swede was a hit in England and it’s a shame a serious knee injury affected his Man United career.
The bad
- Ander Herrera
- Paul Pogba
- Luke Shaw
- Marcos Rojo
- Victor Lindelof
- Matteo Darmian
- Fred
- Henrikh Mkhitaryan
- Memphis Depay
- Morgan Schneiderlin
- Diogo Dalot
- Radamel Falcao
- Guillermo Varela
- Victor Valdes
- Saidy Janko
Pogba, bad?
That’s a call that not every Man United fan will agree with. The noise surrounding him has often been a distraction but he remains the best player at Old Trafford.
The ugly
- Alexis Sanchez
- Bastian Schweinsteiger
- Angel Di Maria
Hard to argue with these selections. Sanchez was a costly disaster while Schweinsteiger was past his sell-by date when he joined in 2015.
Di Maria struggled mightily in Manchester as well, leaving after just one miserable season.
ESPN also gave the four managers a grade. David Moyes was ‘Ugly’, Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho were ‘Bad’ and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is, for now, ‘Good’.