Mason Mount next: The last 12 England internationals signed by Man Utd – & how they fared
Mason Mount is set to become the 13th senior England international to sign for Manchester United in the Premier League era.
Mount has 36 caps for England under Gareth Southgate and has over a hundred appearances for his boyhood club Chelsea. He assisted Kai Havertz’s match-winning goal in the 2021 Champions League final and looks set to leave Stamford Bridge for a fee in the region of £60million.
Signings like Phil Jones and Andy Cole went on to make their Three Lions bows after signing for United, while the likes of Marcus Rashford, Danny Welbeck and David Beckham represented England after breaking through from the club’s famous academy.
We’ve taken a closer look at the last 12 full England internationals signed by United.
Jadon Sancho
Having established himself as one of the most technically gifted youngsters in Europe whilst at Borussia Dortmund, there was always going to be a clamour for Sancho’s signature from the Premier League’s big dogs.
Manchester United eventually ended the long-running saga to sign Sancho for a £73million fee in the summer of 2021.
By that point the winger was a regular in Southgate’s Three Lions squads and featured in their run to the Euro 2020 finals – but his penalty miss in the final defeat to Italy seemed to leave a cloud over his Old Trafford arrival.
The 23-year-old has had his moments but struggled to kick on and put that moment behind him. He’s notched just 12 goals and six assists in 79 appearances for United, who are reportedly willing to listen to offers.
He’s made just one appearance for England since he joined United and hasn’t been called up since 2021.
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Harry Maguire
The centre-back had proven himself a quality Premier League centre-back at Sheffield United and Leicester City, but it was his status as an England international that vastly inflated his price tag come his move to Old Trafford in 2019.
Paying £80million for his signature, a world-record fee for a defender at the time, raised eyebrows at the time and looks especially questionable four years later.
Maguire was one of the poster boys of England’s run to the semi-finals at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. He remains one of Southgate’s most trusted lieutenants, despite his struggles at club level over the past couple of seasons.
The fact that Maguire was named club captain by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is a reminder that he got off to a solid enough start at Old Trafford. He was better than decent in those first couple of years.
But his drop in form and status as a bench-warmer under Erik ten Hag tells us he should probably look for a fresh start elsewhere.
Luke Shaw
Replacing Ashley Cole in a proper changing-of-the-guard substitution for his England debut back in January 2014, Shaw has had his dips in form and struggles with injury over the years, but he remains a Three Lions regular almost a decade later.
That first England cap came while he was shining as a youngster for Mauricio Pochettino’s Southampton.
Six months later the left-back signed for the Red Devils and the rest is history. Next season will be his 10th as a Manchester United player.
Wilfried Zaha
No longer an England international, having switched his allegiance to Ivory Coast in 2017, Zaha played in a couple of England friendlies back when he was ripping up the Championship with Crystal Palace in 2012 and 2013 – and was handed his debut by his future Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson.
Zaha signed for United as one of the first additions of the post-Ferguson era, but opportunities were few and far between before he returned to Palace a couple of years later.
READ: 12 players who did nothing at Man Utd… but shone after leaving
Ashley Young
With 300 appearances under his belt for Watford and Aston Villa, Young arrived at Manchester United with bags of experience in the summer of 2011. That – and his versatility – proved incredibly valuable as he became something of a stalwart over the following eight-and-a-half years.
The winger-turned-full-back had been handed his England bow four years prior to signing for United, but it was only once he arrived at the Premier League’s most successful club that he really started racking up the caps. A familiar tale.
Owen Hargreaves
One of the rare players to play for England without having come up through an English academy, Hargreaves was born in Calgary and developed his skills as a youth at Bayern Munich. He remains the only England international that ever played for England without ever having lived in the country.
The midfielder won four Bundesliga titles with Bayern but it was on the international stage that he really caught the eye.
He was named the Man of the Match in England’s 2006 World Cup quarter-final elimination against Portugal and was widely regarded as one of their best players in Germany.
Hargreaves joined United the following summer, for a £17million fee, after a year of negotiations.
He proved an excellent addition as United won the Premier League and Champions League in his debut season, but suffered horrendous luck with injuries and only made a total of five appearances in his final three seasons with the club.
Michael Carrick
A graduate of Wallsend Boys Club, Carrick actually broke through 300 miles down south of his native Tyneside, having developed at West Ham’s academy alongside fellow future England internationals Jermain Defoe, Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand.
The midfielder earned the first of his 34 England caps during his breakthrough 2000-01 campaign – but he wouldn’t make his first start until he was at Spurs four years later.
He was part of the Tottenham team that were denied Champions League qualification by a dodgy lasagna – which proved to be his final game before securing a £14million move to Manchester United.
Carrick’s arrival was arguably the catalyst for Ferguson’s last truly great United team, one which won three Premier League titles in a row and three Champions League finals in four years.
He remained until retirement in 2018, having made over 450 appearances across his 12 years with the club – and in all that time it never felt like he was utilised correctly by England.
Wayne Rooney
It’s remarkable that some argue Rooney never quite delivered on his early potential. That’s despite him becoming England and Manchester United’s all-time top goalscorer, a Champions League winner and a five-time Premier League winner.
That’s largely due to how electric he looked for the Three Lions at Euro 2004, prior to signing for United later that summer. How could you ever live up to that hype?
🔦 EURO Spotlight: 🏴 18-year-old Wayne Rooney at EURO 2004 😍#EURO2020 | #EUROspotlight | @England | @WayneRooney pic.twitter.com/C8Gl9NmI3k
— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) May 27, 2021
Alan Smith
“I’d often discussed Alan with my coaching staff and we concluded by saying: ‘He’s a Leeds boy and he would never come here’,” Sir Alex Ferguson once recalled of Smith’s decision to leave his hometown club Leeds for their arch-rivals.
“Once Leeds were relegated, it was obvious a player of his ability could never stay there. But then I was told he was willing to join us and that he wasn’t interested in the past. I said: ‘That will do for me’ because it was a brave decision.”
The scrappy striker earned his first England caps while starring in Leeds’ unforgettable run to the Champions League semi-finals in 2001. He controversially departed Elland Road following their relegation three years later.
Smith was reportedly earmarked to adapt to a midfield role as Roy Keane’s long-term successor, but he suffered a horrific double leg break and ankle dislocation at Anfield and he was never quite the same player again.
Rio Ferdinand
At the turn of the century, Leeds United broke the British transfer record to sign Ferdinand for £18 million. He also became the world’s most expensive defender, having already become a regular England international during his time at West Ham.
Ferdinand spent two years up in Yorkshire, shone in the Champions League and became their club captain. It’s said that his head was turned whilst sharing a dressing room with a number of key Manchester United players during the 2002 World Cup.
That summer he once again broke the British transfer record, joining United for a mindblowing £29million fee.
It proved to be a sound investment. Ferdinand spent 12 years in Manchester and became one the club’s all-time most decorated players, winning six Premier League titles, two League Cups and the Champions League.
Teddy Sheringham
When Eric Cantona retired in 1997, it was expected that United would look to the future and sign a younger player to replace the iconic Frenchman.
But the Class Of ’92 were approaching their prime years and Ferguson instead opted to bring in proven, experienced quality – Sheringham was 31 and had notched 98 goals in his five years at Tottenham. He was also an established England international.
The forward wasn’t quite as prolific for United but he played a pivotal role in the Treble of ’99. And he still kept regularly turning out for England after rejoining Spurs in 2001.
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