An expensive signing can be one of many things, it can be a statement on some occasions like the time Maradona signed for Napoli from Barcelona or a necessary evil as when Figo signed for Real Madrid from Barcelona or it can be absolutely unnecessary as when James Rodriguez signed for Real Madrid (they had to sell one of their best players in Angel di Maria).
Manchester United have an affinity towards statement signings, right from the time Sir Alex Ferguson's sides began gathering acclaim, to the recent signings of the likes of Angel di Maria. Obviously, there is Paul Pogba shaped elephant in the room who I will choose to ignore for the moment.
Counting down from the least to the highest, we look at Manchester United's highest signings. Some real surprises in the list. I will also rate the signings (out of 10) on the basis of their success at the club and their contribution to the success, or their potential to be that success (basically an ROI).
10. Wayne Rooney- € 37
Wayne Rooney is the perennial example of a player who divides opinion, but one thing cannot be disputed is the fact that he has been a perfect servant for Manchester United over the eleven or so years he has been at the club.
He might not have fulfilled the world beater potential he seemed to possess when he joined United, but you can't argue with the English captain's record. Only second to all-time highest goalscorer Sir Bobby Charlton, he has won the complete set of trophies available to a footballer in England.
Rating - 8 / 10
9. Luke Shaw- € 37.5
When he was bought by Manchester United, Luke Shaw was the costliest teenager in the world. Having already broken into the Southampton first team at the age of 17, Luke played two full seasons as their first choice left back before signing for the Manchester club.
A Chelsea fan, Luke was also courted by the London club who ultimately baulked at the price tag of English International. Since signing for United, his tenure at the club has been blotched by injuries, and he missed most of the last season with a double leg break he suffered in a Champions League game against PSV.
But, still at the age of 20, his potential is immense. Then there are the Jack Wilsheres of the world who make their living on the word potential.
Rating - 7/ 10 (The last two years got that down a bit)
8. Eric Bailly- € 38
To be honest, Eric Bailly is a difficult one, Manchester United needed a ball-playing centre-back, but is Eric Bailly the guy for Manchester United? In the past things have worked out both ways, Martial a relative unknown, took the league by storm, but Eredivisie top scorer (2014-2015 season) Memphis was a relative flop.
I will leave you with an excerpt from the special one's interview about his new signing "I will give him everything to try to make him better, like I did with other central defenders I've had in my hands, like, for example, Varane."
"I will try to make him the best I can. He has shown the potential we saw when we decided to buy him. He's a very young boy coming from a completely different environment, but you could see what he is at this moment."
Varane, hmm, interesting.
Rating - 7/ 10 (purely on potential, fingers crossed)
6. Dimitar Berbatov- € 38
To be honest, Berbatov is a genius. His first touch is almost always exquisite, and he can do things with the ball no-one else can. But, as with geniuses, there is that thing about occasional disinterest and flaying of arms around for a stray pass. And that was Berbatov's Manchester United career.
He scored a hattrick against Liverpool, which included a brilliant overhead kick, and then he won the Premier League golden boot. He was also left out of the Champions League final squad in favour of Michael Owen, and was behind Danny Welbeck in the pecking order for a whole season. He also, kind of, pushed out Tevez from Manchester United.
Was he really the return on the investment by Manchester United? No. Is he a legend at Manchester United? Hell yeah!
Rating - 6/10
6. Henrikh Mkhitaryan- € 42
These are Henrik Mkhitaryan stats for Borussia Dortmund last season. He had 31 appearances in the Bundesliga in which he scored eleven goals and assisted a further fifteen. Manchester United's alternative for the position Mata had six goals and five assists in thirty-eight appearances.
That alone, tells the story of Manchester United signing the Armenian star, and honestly it would have taken a fortune more to price him away from Dortmund if his contract wasn't going to be up at the end of the next year.
What he brings to Manchester United is what they seemed to be missing, and Mr. Mourinho agrees.
Rating - 8/10
5. Juan Sebastián Verón - € 42.6
Juan Sebastien Veron is a confusing one. It is hard to point a finger at why he didn't really work for Manchester United, especially with the kind of players at Manchester United at the time, they exactly complemented his style and what he brought to the pitch.
Roy Keane a perfect destroyer, Paul Scholes the perfect creator beside the all round ability of Veron. But, he only played fifty-one games for United and was eventually shipped out to Chelsea, who at the time, bought almost anyone.
By Sir Alex Ferguson's admission "He [Veron] is a f**king great player" and to the journalists who doubted Veron "You're all f**king idiots."
Rating- 3/10
4. Mata- € 44.73
It hasn't all been smooth sailing for the Spanish international at Old Trafford has it? Shipped out by Jose Mourinho at Chelsea, for not being able to replace Oscar, he was a gala signing for Manchester United.
But, he never really settled at United, during his time under LvG he was deployed on the right wing, which diminishes his qualities a lot. Though he played a part in every single Premier League fixture, he was far away from being the main man for United, and his numbers as mentioned before spoke for themselves.
Now, Jose Mourinho is the United manager, and Mata has been linked with Everton in various quarters. His performance in the pre-season games though has been eye-catching so far. Personally, I love his blogs, and his youtube videos and hope Jose Mourinho did too.
Rating- 5/10
3. Rio Ferdinand- € 46
This is what they call a perfect return for investment. Ferdinand was signed by Sir Alex Ferguson when the English International was twenty-two. He went on to be one of the best centre-backs ever for Manchester United and England national team, to the extent, every ball-playing centre-back even relatively fast is named as the ‘next Rio Ferdinand’.
The man who also played for Leeds and West Ham, was the mainstay for the United backline for the best part of a decade, and with his partner in crime Nemanja Vidic build the foundation which propelled Manchester United to three finals in four Champions League seasons.
He won all the trophies available to him when he was at Manchester United, including the Club World Cup.
Rating- 9/10
2. Anthony Martial- € 50
'What a waste of money!', it really really looks stupid now, doesn't it? The relatively unknown raised quite a few eyebrows when United bought him for what looked like a massive sum of money. He is for the future Louis said, but young Anthony didn't care, Liverpool? Perfect.
Since that goal against United's arch rivals to announce himself to the world, the teenager never looked back and on occasion carried the team on his young shoulders. The game against Everton in the semi-final of the FA Cup was the perfect representation of his season, raw ability combined with speed and close control and ultimately the composure to finish.
He is a real prospect, and under Mourinho, he has a real chance to become a world beater.
Rating- 8/10
1. Angel di Maria - € 75m
Where do I start? Angel di Maria was the hero of the Champions League final for Real Madrid, but Florentino Pérez decided that James Rodrigues, the star of the world cup was a bigger coup than Angel di Maria and so he unhappily went to Manchester United.
He took the world by storm in his first few games for United, going past players, and generally being brilliant, which included a cracking dink over the goalkeeper against Leicester. But, then he was injured and lost form.
Louis van Gaal tried him as a striker in a two double striker system, that didn't work out, neither did the number ten position. He eventually lost his place to Ashley Young in the squad, Ashley Young! He forced a move to PSG after one season and since then has regained his form for the Paris outfit.
Rating- 2/10
