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Manchester United is undoubtedly one of the first names that pops into you mind when you think of the biggest football teams in the world. Despite their current struggles, Manchester United was THE club to beat during Sir Alex Ferguson’s heyday in the 90s and the first part of the 2000s – destroying everything in their path on the way to an unprecedented 38 trophies.
One can’t broach the topic of Manchester United’s success without noting the invaluable contributions of legendary manager Sir Matt Busby, who, besides leading Manchester United to their first European Cup, built teams around youth and raw talent – which became a vital part of Manchester United's DNA.
Other factors that have contributed to Manchester United’s success is, of course, their fans; with the Old Trafford club being one of the most supported clubs in the world with a global legion of passionate fans.
However, by far the biggest factor for their success in the decades gone by – almost as important as the person in charge of things – has got to be the generations of legendary players who have graced Manchester United over time. The Busby Babes, Bobby Charlton, Denis Law, George Best, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona, The Class of ’92, Peter Schmeichel, Roy Keane, Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke, Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Cristiano Ronaldo are just some of the players who are Old Trafford greats.
And while a lot of these players moved on from Old Trafford with wonderful memories, there are a select few whose exit from the club was less than rosy, which the players in question have come to regret. Who are these individuals? You’re about to find out on this list of 5 players who regret leaving Manchester United.
#5 Gabriel Heinze
Before Patrice Evra made the left-back position his own at Manchester United, the spot was occupied by Gabriel Heinze who was signed from PSG for a sum of £6.9 million. The Argentine immediately hit the ground running and announced himself in spectacular fashion with a goal on his debut against Bolton Wanderers.
Further impressive performances followed, with Heinze fast establishing himself as a fan favourite, with his very own chant which went ‘Ar-gen-tina’. Heinz’s spectacular performances culminated in him winning the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year.
However, an injury against Villareal in the Champions League during the start of the campaign ruled Heinze out for the entire season, which resulted in the signing of Patrice Evra. With his place under extreme threat, Heinze – who found himself playing as a centre-back due to an injury crisis – quickly became disillusioned with life at Old Trafford.
Despite lifting the Premier League, the Argentine demanded a transfer to Liverpool towards the end of the season, completely fraying his relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson.
A potential transfer to United’s arch-rivals was enough for the Old Trafford faithful to completely turn on Heinze, with chants of ‘Ar-gen-tina’ replaced with the taunt ‘You Scouse b*****d’. Manchester United immediately rejected Liverpool’s bid, with the defender finally moving to Real Madrid – becoming the third Manchester United player to do so after David Beckham and Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Ferguson was incensed by the transfer, accusing Madrid of signing Heinze in a bid to lure Cristiano Ronaldo, who shared a close relationship with the Argentine.
Years later, Heinze spoke of his regret at the manner of his departure, saying, "I spent three years in Manchester and had some great moments and I regret it [leaving the club] a lot. There are a lot of things I regret from the last months but I am a strong personality, Sir Alex is a strong personality. I took the decision and, looking back, I regret it because it meant leaving a great club and their supporters”. Ferguson, on his part, made it clear there were no hard feelings, saying "I thought he had a bad agent who engineered the situation and tried to trick [the chief executive] David Gill. I have no issues with Gabby. He was a fantastic player for us, a warrior. He just took bad advice”.
#4 Juan Sebastián Verón
Juan Sebastian Verón is considered an expensive flop as well as one of the worst ever Premier League signings, but despite performing miserably, the player admitted that he regretted ending his Manchester United spell so early. Signed for an enormous £28.1 million – then an English transfer record – from Lazio, Verón had a phenomenal start to his Old Trafford career, scoring three times in four appearances which earned him the Premier-League-Player-of-the-Month award.
However, the demands of the Premier League soon caught up with the Argentine, whose performances took a severe beating. Things didn’t improve for Verón in his second season in the Premier League, however his performances in Europe were phenomenal, with his four goals proving to be crucial in the group stages of the Champions League.
It soon became clear that Verón excelled in the slower paced European games, with his suitability to English football soon coming into question from the press as well as many pundits. Sir Alex, on his part, launched an extraordinary defence of his player against the press, and infamously raged “Verón is a f*****g great player. And you’re all f*****g idiots”. However, the Argentine failed to kick on, and after just two seasons at Old Trafford, was shipped to Chelsea for less than half his signing fee, where he didn’t do any better.
Verón, reflected on his regret at cutting his Old Trafford spell short, saying “I actually found it tougher to live in London than Manchester because I’m from La Plata, which is quite a small city. I wish I could have stayed at United longer, as I believe I could have done things differently. If I'd stayed in Manchester, I think I would have had more continuity on the pitch”.
#3 Henrik Larsson
The Swede made just 13 appearances for Manchester United in all competitions, but quickly established himself as a cult hero during his incredibly short two-month stay in England. A long-time admirer of Larsson, Ferguson jumped at the chance to get his man on loan from Helsingborg in January 2007, with the player responding by scoring on his debut against Aston Villa in the FA Cup.
Further influential performances followed, with the Swede showing shades of the player who terrorised defences during his time with Celtic and Barcelona despite being 35 during his time at Old Trafford.
However, despite two impressive months in Manchester, where he endeared himself to fans, Larsson decided not to extend his loan deal having promised his family and his club that he would return at the end of his temporary spell.
His departure disappointed everyone, most of all Ferguson, who said "We would love him to stay but, obviously, he has made his promise to his family and Helsingborg and I think we should respect that – but I would have done anything to keep him”.
Years later, Larsson admitted to regretting not extending his Manchester United stay, saying: "The only regret I have in my playing career was that I didn’t stay on for the rest of the season because I think if I did that I would have been offered a little bit more, maybe an extension on that. The problem with that was that I promised Helsingborg to come home and I wanted the kids to have somewhere they could call home”.
Such was their affection for Larsson – who made 7 league appearances for the Red Devils – that United made a special request to the Premier League for the striker to receive a Premier League winner's medal despite falling short of the 10 required appearances, which was granted.
#2 David Beckham
David Beckham is many things. For countless people he is the face of global football. For fashionistas, he’s the ultimate style icon. For Americans, he’s probably one of the few ‘soccer’ players they know. But before Beckham was all of that, he was Manchester United’s marauding midfielder.
Part of the legendary Class of 92, Beckham grew from a generational talent to a world-class footballer under the tutelage of Sir Alex Ferguson, winning 6 Premier League titles, 1 Champions League, 2 FA Cups and 2 Community Shields. However, Beckham’s focus on his image and corporate deals strained his relationship with Ferguson, who accused the player of acting like he was bigger than the manager.
The pair’s relationship reached breaking point following a 2-0 FA Cup defeat to Arsenal, after which Ferguson allegedly kicked a boot towards Beckham, which cut the player above the eye.
The incident was the final nail in the coffin for Beckham’s Manchester United career, with the player leaving for Real Madrid soon after. And although Beckham forged a respectable career with Madrid, LA Galaxy, Milan and PSG – his on-field achievements came nowhere close to what it was with Manchester United after he left the team.
Ferguson addressed his feelings on Beckham in his 2013 autobiography, saying "David was the only player I managed who chose to be famous, who made it his mission to be known outside the game”.
The Scot further added: "The minute a Manchester United player thought he was bigger than the manager he had to go... David thought he was bigger than Alex Ferguson. There is no doubt about that in my mind”.
Beckham reflected on his time at Manchester United over two decades later, saying “At 41 I’d like to think that I’m more grown up and a little wiser than when I was 21. There were certain decisions I made back then that were wrong and I can see why the manager got so frustrated”.
The former England international also downright stated his regret at leaving Old Trafford, saying "I'd have loved to have stayed at Manchester United for my whole career and never gone anywhere else, but it just wasn't meant to be."
#1 Peter Schmeichel
The Great Dane was undoubtedly one of the world’s greatest goalkeepers in his prime and will go down as an Old Trafford great. Manchester United’s six-year long quest to replace him is a testament to his greatness.
Signed from Danish outfit Brondby in 1991 for a paltry £505,000 – which Sir Alex Ferguson described as the "bargain of the century," Schmeichel took little time to find his feet in the Premier League.
Eight years of phenomenal goalkeeping followed, with the stopper winning everything there was to win in football while picking up numerous individual awards along the way. Besides maintaining clean sheets for 42% of his United appearances – a crazy statistic – Schmeichel’s runs into the opposition area in order to help with his team’s attack made him a fan favourite.
However, in his final season back in 1999, the goalkeeper found the demands of Manchester United’s gruelling schedule combined with the pace of English football too stressful and decided to move to a less demanding league.
The goalkeeper’s United career couldn’t have ended on a better note, with the club going on to seal a historic treble – which culminated in that legendary final against Bayern Munich at the Nou Camp, where he wore the captain’s armband. Schmeichel’s trophy tally at the time of his move to Sporting Lisbon amounted to 5 Premier League titles, 1 Champions League, 3 FA Cups, 4 Community Shields and 1 European Super Cup.
Schmeichel expressed regret over his decision to move nearly two decades later, saying “I could have possibly played on for many more years [at Manchester United] had I cut back a little bit on the pride and spoken to the manager about it – but I didn’t. I was too proud of my position at the club. When you get to your mid-50s you look back and have a better understanding of things. That was a young man’s head making that decision, I admit I probably should have held out. It’s not a regret as such, but it is a regret at the same time if you get what I mean”.
