The 6 players Man Utd signed along with Depay – & how they fared

Planet Football • 21 Jun 2022

It can be easy to forget that Memphis Depay even signed for Manchester United back in the summer of 2015.

Depay’s short spell wearing the famous United number seven shirt can be described as forgettable. Since then, however, the Netherlands international has gone on the re-establish himself as one of Europe’s elite attacking players at Lyon and now finds himself at Barcelona.

He was just one of seven players to make the move to Old Trafford in the 2015 summer transfer window though – so we’ve taken a look at the other six players who joined him at the club and see how they fared.

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Matteo Darmian

This one did seem to make sense at the time.

United had been let down badly a number of times during the 2014-15 season due to calamitous defensive showings – need we mention the 4-0 loss to MK Dons – and after the departure of Rafael they had no recognised senior right-back in their squad.

The answer Louis van Gaal came up with to this conundrum was to sign Darmian, one of the most highly-rated young full-backs in Europe at the time, for a fee believed to be around £12million.

Things did start somewhat well for the Italian in Manchester, he played 39 times during his debut season and even won their Player of the Month award n August 2015.

Once Van Gaal departed and Jose Mourinho arrived, however, things quickly fall flat for the Darmian at Old Trafford.

Despite impressing in the 2017 Europa League final, he fell out of favour under Mourinho and eventually left the club for Parma in 2019.

Darmian: “I think it was a great goal, also because it was my first for Manchester United at Old Trafford." #MUFC pic.twitter.com/LbRr2iLjl1

— Devils Latest (@Devils_Latest) April 21, 2016

Bastian Schweinsteiger

Think we can all remember how this move went.

In short, Schweinsteiger cost £6.5million from Bayern Munich, played just 18 Premier League games in two seasons and ended his time with United training with the Under 23s – probably fair to say… not the best piece of business.

READ: The last goodbye: How Schweinsteiger became an MLS ‘All-Star’ centre-back

Morgan Schneiderlin

It’s hard to say what when wrong with this move really.

At the time of his £27million move to Old Trafford, Schneiderlin was one of the most highly rated and sought after holding midfielders in English football following an impressive three years in the Premier League with Southampton.

Things just never really came together for the France international in Manchester though – he struggled to maintain a spot in the side and was restricted to just 32 league games across one and a half seasons with the club before being sold to Everton for a loss in January 2017.

Sergio Romero

Despite spending comfortably the longest amount of time at United of any of the players on this list, six seasons, Romero also, just as comfortably, made the fewest Premier League appearances for the club – seven.

His time in Manchester was largely unremarkable, playing second-fiddle to David De Gea for virtually his entire stay.

But there were some high points for the goalkeeper as he did start and keep a clean sheet in the Red Devils 2-0 win over Ajax in the 2017 Europa League final.

The Argentina international also managed to rack up over 60 appearances for the club in all competitions during his stay – which in our opinion makes him one of the biggest success stories on this list, not that it was a high bar.

He was eventually released by the club in 2021 after not making a single appearance during the previous campaign.

On this day, 5 years ago Sergio Romero signed for Manchester United!

• 59 games
• 38 clean sheets
• 26 goals conceded #MUFC

pic.twitter.com/rR8HQIBfxF

— United Zone (@ManUnitedZone_) July 27, 2020

Anthony Martial

Despite being a relatively unknown 19-year-old, Martial was United’s most expensive signing in the 2015 summer transfer window.

He completed a £36million move from Monaco on transfer deadline day and then enjoyed a dream debut, coming off the bench to score a sensational solo goal against Liverpool.

The forward, who also won the Golden Boy award in 2015, finished his debut season with 17 goals in all competitions and was tipped for a bright future at Old Trafford.

But his progress stalled under Jose Mourinho and he has struggled for inconstancy over the last few seasons, scoring just five Premier League goals since the start of 2020-21, failing to find form during an unsuccessful half-season loan at Sevilla.

On this day in 2015, Martial did THIS to Liverpool on his Manchester United debut 😤

(Via @ManUtd)pic.twitter.com/SpPoOdOxUl

— B/R Football (@brfootball) September 12, 2021

Regan Poole

Poole also joined United on transfer deadline day but was considerably cheaper than Martial, signing from Newport County for £100k.

The defender mainly played for their reserves and a cameo in a 5-1 win over FC Midtjylland in February 2016 was his only ever appearance for the first team.

Following a few loan spells away, Poole was allowed to join MK Dons on a free transfer in the summer of 2019.