The 14 former Man Utd players who have won a league title since they last did
We all know how it’s gone for Manchester United since the great exit of Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013: terribly.
No league title in 12 years since his departure has been a lean run, but while the club has struggled, players who have left the club have found success.
Here are 14 former United players who have won top-flight league titles since leaving the club.
Ashley Young
The former winger-turned-wing-back spent nine years at United after signing from Aston Villa.
There, he won a league title in 2013, the FA Cup, the League Cup, and the Europa League. However, as he reached his mid-30s, it seemed his time at the elite level was over.
Inter Milan then came calling when he was 35 as he signed in a low-cost deal. Still capable of performing at the top level due to his dedication and professionalism, he originally signed on loan before completing a permanent move in 2020.
Inter then won the league title in the 2020-21 season, with Young starting 16 league games and providing four assists making him just the third Englishman to win Serie A at that point.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Another Scudetto winner, Ibrahimovic claimed a 12th league title (across four countries) as an elder statesman back at AC Milan in 2021-22.
That year he turned 40 but he provided more than just experience in the dressing room for Stefano Piolo’s table-topping Rossoneri, with eight goals and three assists in 23 Serie A appearances.
Juan Mata
Having joined United in 2014 after Jose Mourinho allowed him to leave Chelsea, he spent eight years at the club winning the two domestic cups and the Europa League.
He played 285 times recording 42 assists and scoring 51 times but many will look back at his team as underwhelming given how good he was at Chelsea, Valencia and Spain.
Still, he left for Galatasaray in 2022 in a one-year deal, starting just three league games in Turkey but he was part of the team that won the league title that season.
Surrounded by the likes of Mauro Icardi, Dries Mertens and Lucas Torreira, they won the title by six points as he won his first league title.
He then joined Japanese side Vissel Kobe and won the J1 League title a year later, earning back-to-back successes.
Wilfried Zaha
Zaha established himself as one of the Premier League’s most consistent wingers for nine seasons after returning to Crystal Palace in 2014, having never really got much of a look-in under David Moyes at Old Trafford.
Throughout that time he was always talked up for another big move to a Champions League club, but his 2023 move to Galatasaray proved a bit of an anti-climax.
He’s already out of favour at the Turkish Super Lig club and will spend 2025 out on loan at MLS outfit Charlotte FC.
He does have a Super Lig winner’s medal to show from his season in Istanbul, though. He scored nine goals as Galatasaray won the title with a record 102 points last term.
Ritchie De Laet
The Belgian was only on the fringes but he did take home a winner’s medal from Leicester City’s 2015-16 miracle.
That year he also won promotion, out on loan at Middlesbrough in the latter half of the campaign.
Paul Pogba
No, not the second time around. Juventus are still looking to get back on top in Serie A, while Pogba is searching for a new club and a fresh start after his drugs ban.
We’re going back to Pogba’s first stint this time around, with a second, third and fourth Scudetto in a row since United’s last Premier League title in 2013.
It was at that point that the Red Devils brought the midfielder back for a club-record fee.
Patrice Evra
A popular figure at Old Trafford during his time at the club, he spent eight years there before leaving in 2014.
At that point, he’d won 10 major honours plus four Community Shields in a trophy-laden spell. He then left at the end of the miserable 2013-14 campaign for around £1.2million to join Juventus.
Linking up with the likes of Gianluigi Buffon, Carlos Tevez, Paul Pogba and Andrea Pirlo, they won the Serie A title, the Italian Cup and reached the final of the Champions League, losing to the treble-winning Barcelona side.
They repeated their successes a year later as well as adding the Italian Super Cup as he enjoyed 82 appearances across two and a half seasons.
Angel Di Maria
The Argentinian was a statement signing for United in the 2014-15 season, but he spent just one miserable season in Manchester where he complained about the weather, the manager and he even saw his house robbed by thugs.
He left promptly to join PSG where he found a lot of success across eight years.
He won 14 trophies in France, including five league titles and managed 93 goals and 119 assists across 295 games which proved to be an outstanding return.
That first title came in his first year in Ligue 1 and the failed £59.7million move is now just a forgotten memory as he has gone on to enjoy more success at Benfica since returning to his first club.
READ MORE: Angel Di Maria’s Man Utd nightmare in 11 hilarious quotes
Ander Herrera
Herrera enjoyed some success at United with the domestic cup wins between 2015 and 2017, including that Europa League triumph, as he made a total of 189 appearances across five years at the club.
Fans mostly loved him for his endeavour and his work rate but were happy to part ways with him at the age of 30.
Like Di Maria, Herrera headed to the French capital to find success and he won the first league title of his career with Ligue 1, before winning it again two seasons later.
He also reached the Champions League final as well, losing narrowly to Bayern Munich and later rejoined Athletic Bilbao and won a historic Spanish cup in 2024.
Romelu Lukaku
While the powerful striker failed to truly succeed at United, he was reborn in Italy under Conte at Inter Milan.
The Italian club paid a club-record fee for the striker who left after two seasons at Old Trafford. He then hit 34 goals in his first season as they reached the Europa League final.
However, it all came together the following year. He managed another 30-goal campaign, with 10 assists, as he fired his side to the league title where he was awarded the league’s MVP award, Best Player and featured in the Team of the Year.
After that came his disaster at Chelsea where he still managed a FIFA Club World Cup and he currently finds himself top of Serie A once again under Conte, this time at Napoli as he hopes to win a second Italian title.
Alexis Sanchez
The former Arsenal striker was heralded as one of the best players in the Premier League in his prime, having previously starred for Barcelona.
United traded Henrikh Mkhitaryan for the Chilian attacker in 2018, but the move failed to take flight.
He managed just two goals in his debut campaign and he has since revealed that he knew he had made a mistake after the first training session.
He then spent a season on loan at Inter before joining permanently in 2020.
Under Conte, he played a supporting attacking role starting 12 times across 30 appearances where he scored seven and assisted seven to win the league title.
Inter won the title again in the 2023-24 campaign but he played a smaller role before exiting for Udinese.
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Daley Blind
A cultured defender capable of playing in midfield, Blind was brought in during the Louis van Gaal era at United after his exploits for the Dutch national team at the 2014 World Cup.
He spent four years at United before heading back to Ajax in 2018 after winning three trophies.
At Ajax, he triumphed with three league titles in four years as well as enjoying two cup successes.
Then in January 2022, the club and player mutually agreed to terminate his deal at age 33 and he joined Bayern Munich for half a season.
He picked up another league title there in a short spell before joining Girona in the summer.
Marouane Fellaini
Now on to the more obscure title victories; Fellaini spent six years at United and while he may have been the most technical or even the player they wanted to see arrive in 2013, his particular style was useful across his six years at the club.
He managed 177 appearances and helped them to win a few trophies.
Aged 32, he opted to join Japanese side Shandong Taishan in what would be his final club before retiring.
In four years at the club, he managed to win the J1 league title as well as three Chinese FA Cups, meaning he secured his second career league title after winning the Belgian first division with Standard Liege.
Bebe
Yes, that Bebe.
Last, but not least, Bebe falls into the category of forgotten United youngsters from the 2010s who spent four years at the club, playing just seven times.
Most of his time in the first-team squad was spent on loan and he eventually departed for Benfica in 2014.
He initially played half a season with the Portuguese side before heading on loan to Corboda in the second half of the campaign.
However, his appearances still qualified him for a league title in Portugal and he soon left after just a handful of games. Currently, he finds himself in Ibiza in Spain’s third tier.