Man Utd’s most-used XI of the PL era: No Ronaldo, surprise centre-back…
Manchester United have been blessed with a number of long-serving stalwarts throughout the Premier League era – but which players make up their most-used XI since the competition’s inception in 1992?
Plenty of club heroes fail to make the cut, while there are a couple of surprises in certain positions.
Thanks to the help of Transfermarkt, we’ve compiled an XI of United’s most-used players in the Premier League, arranged in a 4-4-f*cking-2.
GK: David de Gea
With 383 appearances to his name at the time of writing, De Gea is now 131 games ahead of Peter Schmeichel. Edwin van der Sar rounds off the top three with 186 games.
The rest? They’re not really worth mentioning.
RB: Gary Neville
Who else, really? Sure, his 398 appearances are impressive, but we’re more bothered about that week he became Manchester United’s deadliest goalscorer.
READ: Remembering the week Gary Neville became Man Utd’s deadliest goalscorer
CB: Rio Ferdinand
Let’s start with an obvious at centre-back, with Ferdinand leaving Old Trafford having made 312 Premier League appearances.
CB: John O’Shea
Centre-back, full-back, midfielder, goalkeeper – O’Shea played wherever required in his 257 Premier League appearances for United.
Given next in the list of appearances are Mikel Silvestre and Wes Brown, who also made plenty of appearances at full-back, O’Shea seems like a fair choice.
Look, there are two types of people in this world: those who remember the Manchester United vs Real Madrid fixture on this day in 2003 for Ronaldo’s hat-trick and those that remember it for John O’Shea’s audacious nutmeg on Luis Figo.
— These Football Times (@thesefootytimes) April 23, 2021
LB: Denis Irwin
Just edging out Patrice Evra, Irwin made 296 Premier League appearances for United in comparison to the Frenchman’s 273.
Luke Shaw is way back in third with 90.
RW: David Beckham
264 appearances, countless free-kicks and one football boot to the eye from Fergie sees Beckham edge out Bebe.
CM: Paul Scholes
After making 466 Premier League appearances between 1993 and 2011, Scholes probably had the 500-mark in his sights when he came back from retirement. He fell one short, which is annoying.
READ: Gary Neville: If someone said Scholes would be a footballer I’d say ‘How?’
CM: Roy Keane
In Keane’s 326 Premier League appearances for United, how many of those do you think he was utterly terrifying in?
LW: Ryan Giggs
Ashley Young was just 440 appearances off making this spot his own.
ST: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Of Solskjaer’s 235 Premier League appearances, 84 came as a substitute. Not sure what he’s got up to since leaving.
On this day, TWENTY FIVE YEARS ago, Manchester United signed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for £1.5million from Molde FK.
366 Appearances
126 Goals
50 Assists
6 × Premier League Titles
2 × FA Cups
2 × Community Shields
1 × Champions League
1 × Intercontinental Cuppic.twitter.com/KBTuOXrjGU— ً (@TheFergusonWay) July 29, 2021
ST: Wayne Rooney
We’ll always love him for how he made us feel in 2004. That’s not to mention the 393 Premier League appearances for United and 183 goals.
QUIZ: Can you name Man Utd’s top 30 goalscorers in Premier League history?