Man United's most disastrous signings of the past decade - including £86m flop and Arsenal forward
Manchester United have made some disappointing signings in the past decade
As one of the world’s biggest football clubs, the fact that Manchester United have now gone 12 years without winning a Premier League title is astounding.
With a mixture poor management, several broken dressing rooms and some shocking recruitment, we have now got to a stage which would have been unthinkable when Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.
The Red Devils have remained one of the biggest spenders in world football despite this. Almost every single year a marquee signing or two have arrived with the purpose of bringing the club back to where they belong, to no avail.
In a world of ever-inflating prices and precarious overspending, United have fell victim to this as often as anyone. The Red Devils are often used as an example of what not to do in the transfer market, which is a sad reality for the 13-time Premier League winners. We decided to have a look at some of Man United’s worst signings of the last decade - featuring four big-money flops who cost over £300million between them. That is not even including a player who some believe to be the worst signing of them all.
Man United's worst signings since 2015/16
Who are Man United’s worst signings of the last 10 years? An important question to ask, one which could have many different responses - because there are such an extensive list of candidates.
In terms of value for money, there are few worse than Antony. The Brazilian winger was signed on personal recommendation of former manager Erik ten Hag, who had managed him at Ajax and somehow thought that an Antony with just 17 Eredivisie goals to his name was worth forking out a mammoth £86m price. Ajax raked up their asking price to an unassailable amount to ward off interest, but United paid that and more. Just five Premier League goals later, this failed transfer is seen as the defining moment of the Ten Hag era.
Arriving under Ten Hag’s predecessor Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Jadon Sancho cost a little less than Antony but has been just as ineffective. The then-21-year-old England international arrived with a fine reputation after his time at Borussia Dortmund, to the point where a £73m price tag appeared justifiable. Just 12 goals and six assists for the club proved otherwise. After two loan spells away, United now look set to cut their losses and accept a severely reduced fee for a man who has become an outcast after publicly falling out with two separate managers.
It is not just inflated transfer fees which have defined the Red Devils’ worst signings of recent times. Back in January 2018, United thought they were getting the better end of the deal when Alexis Sanchez arrived from Arsenal in a straight swap with Henrikh Mkhitaryan. The Chilean was given an incomprehensible £500,000-a-week salary, which smashed the wage structure within the club in a way which they have struggled to rectify since. For this reason, many view Sanchez as United’s worst signing of them all. After an unforgivable three league goals in two seasons, Sanchez went out on loan to Inter Milan in 2019 before seeing his contract terminated by mutual consent the following summer.
More nightmare Manchester United signings who flopped at Old Trafford
Many may feel Paul Pogba deserves a mention. The Frenchman remains United’s record signing after arriving for a huge £89m from Juventus back in 2016. Pogba had his moments but arguably disappointed more than he impressed. The World Cup winner was supposed to be the player who would inspire the Red Devils to Premier League glory, but he was instead often a scapegoat for all that was wrong at the club in the late 2010s.
The most recent addition here, Rasmus Hojlund signed for £72m in 2023 and was instantly tasked with replacing Cristiano Ronaldo and becoming the answer to United’s striker problem at just 20 years old. The pressure has proven far too much and it is difficult to imagine the Dane’s fortunes improving at Old Trafford any time soon.
Rounding off a series of shocking signings are two slightly less expensive purchases in Donny van de Beek and Memphis Depay. Both still cost a small fortune, though - £60m between them - and utterly failed to leave any impression at the club despite massive hype on their respective arrivals. Van de Beek was signed by Ten Hag and made just 35 league appearances in four injury-hit years on the books, while Depay took the club’s iconic No.7 shirt but scored just two league goals in his full only season in Manchester in 2015/16.
It is fair to say that Man United have made some major errors in the transfer market in recent years. What might have been if even half of these mega-money transfers proved a hit at Old Trafford, we will never know.