Manchester United are the world's richest club right now. During Alex Ferguson's tenure at United, he brought the best out of his purchases. Since his departure, the club’s ethos has changed from getting the best out of the players available to buying the best talent available.But now, the club are allowed to spend the money they generate from their 1,001 commercial deals without even having to nod their head in the direction of Financial Fair Play. In an inflated transfer market, no fee seems too high for the Premier League giants.
Here comes the Top 10 Manchester United’s most expensive signings ever:
10 Angel Di Maria – £59.7
Manchester united most expensive transfers signing that broke the English transfer record was Angel Di Maria’s move from Real Madrid to Manchester United in 2014.
United wanted a player to take up the no.7 shirt and spent £59.7m to secure the services of the Man of the Match in the recently concluded Champions League final where Real won La Decima.
9 Juan Sebastian Veron – £28.1
Veron was a British record transfer when he moved to Manchester United from Lazio in 2001
but nobody predicted back then that he would go on to be one of the most expensive flops in Premier League history. Having been signed as a 26-year-old, Veron was supposed to be in his prime but he was nowhere close to being a star.
8 Marouane Fellaini – £27.5m
Marouane Fellaini bought by David Moyes who decided to bring his biggest midfielder from former club Everton to Old Trafford, Fellaini has split United fans right down the middle.
Some fans see him as a failed transfer by a manager who had no idea what he was doing. Others see him as the perfect squad player who sticks to the basics and follows instructions – the ideal Plan B candidate.
7 Juan Mata – £37.1m
Only Jose Mourinho’s methods and tactics could have pushed out a two-time Player of the Year at Chelsea.
Juan Mata was the darling of Blues fans following his move to Stamford Bridge. The Spaniard had also helped them win their first Champions League title after all.
6 Anthony Martial – £36.7m
It’s not easy playing with the tag of ‘World’s Most Expensive Teenager’, especially when you move from a relatively small Ligue 1 club to the biggest side in the Premier League.
But Anthony Martial was unperturbed in his first season under Louis van Gaal. In fact, he made a mockery of the Liverpool defence in the derby to score on his debut and send the Old Trafford crowd into raptures.
5 Dimitar Berbatov – £30.75
United are accustomed to going for rival clubs’ star players and they raided Tottenham Hotspur in 2008 to get an absolute gem in Dimitar Berbatov.
The London club, as always, drove a hard bargain and Berbatov cost a little over £30m to secure his services.
4 Eric Bailly – £30m
With United’s homegrown defenders such as Chris Smalling and Phil Jones displaying alarming levels of inconsistency,
Eric Bailly’s arrival was a breath of fresh air in a young defensive back-line. Here was a defender who was strong in the tackle, able to position himself well and also play the ball out from the back if required.
3 Ander Herrera - £29m
Following Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure, Ander Herrera was one of the main targets for David Moyes in 2013.
However, at the time, Athletic Bilbao had flatly rejected United’s advances in spite of a £24m bid as the Spanish club had qualified for the Champions League. But the Red Devils finally got their man the next summer with a bid that was approximately £29m.
2 Paul Pogba – £89.3m
By 2016, United had inked so many commercial deals
ranging from official noodles partners to official lubricant oil partners (whatever that means) that they had enough money to buy another football club if they wanted to. But they settled on breaking the transfer record to sign Paul Pogba – four years after letting him go for free.
1 Rio Ferdinand – £30m
Transfer of Rio Ferdinand broke the British transfer record
and the record for the world’s most expensive defender twice – first when he moved to Leeds and later when the debt-ridden club sold him to United. The English defender was a hard-nosed centre-back who had also impressed with England on the international stage.
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