Ranking Man Utd’s 10 most diabolical signings since Sir Alex Ferguson left: Onana, Antony…
Manchester United have not come close to the dominant side they were when Sir Alex Ferguson led them to 13 Premier League titles in 21 seasons in charge. Only in the odd season have the Red Devils even battled for the title since his tenure ended in 2013.
In the last few seasons, they have been woeful, and their decisions in the transfer market have not helped them, with some poor players being signed at Old Trafford, with Andre Onana’s loan move to Trabzonspor highlighting the poor recruitment of late.
Here, we have looked into the 10 worst signings made by United in the post-Fergie era.
10. Anthony Martial
Martial stuck around for nine years, so it would be harsh to suggest he was overwhelmingly poor, clearly having something United deemed worthy of keeping around.
The striker was directly involved in 144 goals in 317 United games.
But he only reached 10 Premier League goals in three of his nine seasons, a tally some strikers breeze past every year.
9. Paul Pogba
On his day, Pogba could be the very best player in the Premier League.
However, the midfielder fell off towards the back end of a spell which began with what was then the world-record transfer for £89million.
His best Premier League season saw Pogba score 13 goals and assist nine more. In the next three seasons combined, he failed to match that single-season tally.
8. Mason Mount
It is important to note that Mount is still firmly in the plans of Ruben Amorim, who is enamoured by the fact the Englishman can play two different roles within his system.
Indeed, he still has time to come good.
That said, Mount has now played 50 games, and has four goals and two assists to his name.
The £55million price tag is one he has failed to get close to justifying to this point, though there’s still a chance he could do so.
7. Rasmus Hojlund
Whether Hojlund can still justify his £72million United price tag remains to be seen.
After just two seasons with the Red Devils, he’s been sent on loan to Napoli, who are reported to have an option to buy the striker, meaning he could be cut loose.
United’s decision to send Hojlund out on loan makes sense given he managed just four Premier League goals from 32 games in his second season.
For a £72million signing, those are pretty grim numbers.
6. Alexis Sanchez
A season before joining United in a swap from Arsenal, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan going the other way, Sanchez had scored 24 goals and provided 10 assists in the Premier League.
He had seven goals and three assists to his name in the first half of the 2017-18 season, but managed just two goals and three assists from January with United.
In the following two seasons, he never managed to score more than one goal, falling massively from the superstar who’d been so effective at Arsenal.
To make matters worse for United, in both of his first two seasons with Inter Milan, Sanchez posted at least 14 direct goal contributions.
5. Jadon Sancho
One of the world’s most promising attacking talents at Borussia Dortmund, Sancho had racked up 53 goals and 67 assists in 158 games before a mammoth £73million move to United.
He has flopped hard at Old Trafford, where he was given only two seasons – in which he scored 12 goals – before being banished by Erik ten Hag, and is clearly unwanted by Ruben Amorim.
Sancho has been back on loan to Dortmund, as well as Chelsea, and now Aston Villa.
While there’s an option to extend his deal for another year, the winger’s United contract is up this summer, and the club will suffer a huge loss whatever happens.
4. Andre Onana
Perhaps the most mistake-ridden goalkeeper United have ever seen, at the beginning of his third season at Old Trafford, Onana’s Premier League starting spot was usurped by the equally shaky Altay Bayindir.
United signed Senne Lammens and showed what they thought of Onana’s performances since his £47.2million signing by sending him on loan to Trabzonspor – a huge fall for a goalkeeper who started a Champions League final for Inter Milan in 2023.
3. Memphis Depay
United paid approximately £31million to PSV Eindhoven for a player they thought could be the next big thing in English football.
Memphis joined at 21 years old, after 22 goals and five assists in the Eredivisie the season prior.
At Old Trafford, he never went better than two goals in the Premier League, and it took just a season and a half for them to ship him out to Lyon, where he got back to finding the net with ease.
Another case of the lights of United being too bright.
2. Donny van de Beek
If the lights were bright for Memphis, they were blinding for Van de Beek, who had reached the Champions League semi-final as one of the leading members of a superb Ajax side in 2018-19.
Van de Beek played 19 games in the Premier League in his first season, and would never match that tally again in each of the next three years, as he was hampered by injuries and the view that he simply wasn’t good enough.
That he moved to Girona for around £400,000 four years after his £35million move to United highlights what a massive fall Van de Beek suffered, and how poor the investment was.
1. Antony
Perhaps not only the worst signing in United history, but one of the worst in the history of football. The Red Devils signed Antony for £85million in 2022, and got a mere 12 goals out of him in 95 games.
His skills translated woefully to the Premier League, and it was reported that when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had looked at the winger, United had valued him at around £30million.
Why, then, Erik ten Hag dropped such a huge sum is a good question, and they lost around £65million when Antony was sold to Real Betis in the summer of 2025.
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