5 big-name stars who have struggled badly since leaving Man Utd

Manchester United are synonymous with the Premier League having won the most titles and housed some of the best players and teams – but recent history has been a far cry from that.

Since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson, United haven’t won the league and are no longer considered the gold standard for clubs to emulate.

With that in mind, we’ve identified five players who were considered big-name stars while at United but struggled badly after leaving.

Paul Pogba

Perhaps the most high-profile case of the lot, Pogba was a superstar when he signed for United in 2016 and he later won the World Cup with France whilst still at the club, which proved the level he was operating at.

However, after a few bitter years, he decided to return to Juventus.

It looked like a good move in hindsight given the criticism he was facing in England but he failed to rediscover any sort of spark and was later banned for doping, stopping his career comeback abruptly.

Since then, he has been out of action for over 15 months and is set to become a free agent when he can return to action in March, at 31, fans will want to see what he has left to offer.

But, given the level he was at United, the fall-off has been rather sizeable.

Edinson Cavani

One of the best goalscorers of the past decade and generation, Cavani has always been an elite striker and while his time at United was short and sweet, with 19 goals in 59 games, he struggled at Valencia after leaving.

He hasn’t won a trophy since leaving United and while he may be in his later years, he has never relied on his pace to be effective and has found some goalscoring at 37 years of age in Argentina at Boca Juniors, netting 24 in 57 games.

Given his past reputation, we just think he could have fared better in his later years.

Jesse Lingard

While Lingard had spurts of real quality across his time at United, his consistency wasn’t exactly there.

However, there were some fine moments which led him to become a key figure in the 2017/18 season and with the national team.

When he wanted to leave, he enjoyed an exciting and thrilling loan spell at West Ham where he managed nine goals and four assists in 16 games that had everyone excited but that form did not continue.

He then joined relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest but failed to contribute before leaving to join FC Seoul in South Korea where he currently resides. He managed six goals and three assists in 26 games, as his side finished fourth. Still only 32, it feels like it all should have gone differently.

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Dwight Yorke

Yorke, alongside Andy Cole, was one of the Premier League’s most exciting and clinical forwards in his prime but he failed to replicate such form after leaving United as a 31-year-old.

Far from finished at that age, he joined Blackburn where he managed eight league goals in his first season.

After that first season away from Old Trafford, he managed a record of 21 goals in 125 games across spells at Blackburn, Birmingham, Sydney FC and Sunderland before retiring at 38.

Plus, he didn’t experience any late-career injuries which we could blame for a drop-off which shows he failed to ever replicate the type of form that saw him win a treble or match the form of 99 goal contributions in 152 games for United.

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Andy Cole

At his best, Cole should be considered among the very best finishers in Premier League history.

After all, he holds the record for the fourth-most goals in the competition’s history and broke all manner of records during his career (some have later been beaten) including the fastest player to 50 goals and being the first player to top both the goalscoring charts and assist table.

Also retiring at 38, like his former striker partner Yorke, he remained in the Premier League but he still could have played at a higher level than the one we saw.

He featured for Blackburn, Fulham, Manchester City, Portsmouth, Birmingham, Sunderland, Burnley and Nottingham Forest but his numbers and impact fell off.

With 35 goals in 137 games, his choices of clubs were interesting and varied but he failed to replicate any resemblance of top form.

Injuries were not a serious issue either and perhaps he would have been best finding another top club and being a rotation striker where he would have had more chances created for him to further prolong his time at the elite level.

Either way, he remains a Premier League legend and a true striking great.