Manchester United have had a tough decade since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement, lurching from one manager to the next.
But it just hasn’t worked, with United losing more games over the past 10 years than in the 26 years under Sir Alex Ferguson.
You can lay some of this blame on the various managers themselves, but it is the owners and the woefully haphazard recruitment strategies that have played a sizeable chance in the team’s struggles.
It’s not necessarily just the players who have been signed, it’s the ones who have been missed. Here is a look at the biggest 13 misses of the post Sir Alex Ferguson era.
David Moyes
Cesc Fabregas, Thiago Alcantara, Toni Kroos
David Moyes’ first transfer window was a total disaster. He declined the chance to sign Thiago Alcantara, despite the midfielder being ready to join from Barcelona.
Guillem Balague explained via X: “David Moyes decided he was not a player for him at United. Thiago could not believe it and being in Munich to sing the contract to join Pep’s team, asked his agent to ring MUFC again. Same answer, not a player needed. Then he decided to join Bayern.”
Thiago went onto lead Bayern to multiple league titles and the Champions League, while Moyes settled for Marouane Fellaini.
This was not after spending several weeks pursuing Thiago’s Barcelona teammate Cesc Fabregas. The Spaniard told Goal he did speak to Moyes, but declined the chance to move. He signed with Chelsea just a year later.
To be fair to Moyes, he later lined up a deal for Toni Kroos, which Manchester United blew when he was sacked. Surely the club could have held on a few more weeks?
New boss Louis van Gaal did not show the same determination to sign Kroos, who joined Real Madrid instead, and won multiple Champions Leagues alongside Casemiro.
Kroos told The Athletic: “David Moyes had come to see me and the contract had basically been done but then Moyes was fired and Louis van Gaal came in, which complicated matters,”
“Louis wanted time to build his own project. I didn’t hear anything from United for a while and started having doubts. Then the World Cup started and Carlo Ancelotti called. And that was it.”
Louis van Gaal
Sadio Mane, Ngolo Kante, Riyad Mahrez
After blowing the Toni Kroos deal, Louis van Gaal signed over-the-hill Bayern star Bastian Schweinsteiger instead. That did not work out well.
The Dutchman had a bad track record with his signings, and later blamed recruitment for a largely unhappy two-year spell at Old Trafford.
Via Sky Sports, Van Gaal later reeled off a long list of player he had wanted at Manchester United, who he was not backed to sign.
Among them were powerhouse winger Sadio Mane, who helped turn Liverpool back into a force. Van Gaal was unable to convince him, with Mane quoted by Talksport: “I spoke with Van Gaal, and they even made an offer. But for me it was not the right club, it was not the right moment.”
Van Gaal also named Riyad Mahrez and Ngolo Kante as players he wanted to sign from Leicester City. Both players joined Manchester City and Chelsea and subsequently won additional league titles.
Jose Mourinho
Ivan Perisic
Jose Mourinho‘s managerial spell at Manchester United began to fall apart when he did not land the winger he wanted in 2017.
Mourinho was desperate to sign Ivan Perisic from Inter Milan to supply striker Romelu Lukaku. However, a fee could not be agreed. The Independent reported Perisic wanted the move too, but Manchester United refused to sanction the £50 million asking price.
Inter were keen on a swap deal involving Anthony Martial, which Manchester United refused to entertain.
This was not a case where United missed out on Perisic and turned to a plan B. There was no plan B, with no alternative signed.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Erling Haaland, Jude Bellingham, Jack Grealish
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer‘s tenure at Manchester United ended trophyless and is a case of ‘what might have been’.
Erling Haaland was the big one. Solskjaer managed him at Molde, and according to The Sun, he recommended United sign Haaland before he took over.
He said: “I called United about six months before I took over and told them that I’d got this striker that we had but they didn’t listen. I asked for £4million for Haaland but they didn’t sign him.”
Solskjaer was not backed to sign Haaland during his first window in charge either, and then he joined RB Salzburg, before switching to Borussia Dortmund. United had attempted to land him in 2020, but backed out of a deal owing to demands for a break clause in the deal. He is now starring for rivals City.
Jude Bellingham was another agonising near-miss. Bellingham even visited Manchester United’s Carrington training ground, and ambassador Bryan Robson said he thought the deal was done.
Bellingham also chose to join Dortmund, and has gone onto become an absolute superstar at Real Madrid.
Jack Grealish was another one lined up by Solskjaer in 2020. “I was really close to going,” the midfielder told Sky Sports.
United were expecting Villa to be relegated that year. A Hawkeye goal technology error helped them avoid relegation, and Grealish’s value avoided a big drop. Solskjaer and Manchester United took the cheaper option to buy Donny van de Beek.
Ralf Rangnick
Julian Alvarez
In January 2022, Argentine striker Julian Alvarez was being hawked around Europe’s top clubs by his agent as a star of the future.
Interim boss Ralf Rangnick had been tracking Alvarez during his time working in Russia and had recommended the deal to United.
Fabrizio Romano reported via Caught Offside that Rangnick was ‘furious’ United did not sanction the deal, for Alvarez, or any player. Rangnick also named Alvarez publicly as a player he had told the board to sign.
City later signed Alvarez, where he is making a real name for himself, having also helped Argentina to win the World Cup.
Erik ten Hag
Frenkie de Jong, Harry Kane
Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag has also missed his reported top targets in consecutive summers too. He has landed some players he wanted, but you also wonder what might have been.
The first was Frenkie de Jong, and this is not necessarily United’s fault. The club did everything possible to sign him, agreeing a fee with Barcelona. De Jong simply refused to join. His Barcelona side were later eliminated from the Europa League by Ten Hag’s United.
United pivoted to Casemiro instead, a quality player, but a very different one stylistically to De Jong.
This past summer Ten Hag was reportedly set on signing Harry Kane, before being informed early on that Manchester United’s budget would not stretch that far on one player.
Kane signed for Bayern Munich instead, where he helped knock Manchester United out of the Champions League.
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