Manchester United's 10 Worst Premier League Signings

#6 Kleberson

There are some players out there who you’re amazed they won certain trophies. For instance, Wes Brown is a two-time(!) Champions League winner. Wes. Brown. Let that sink in for a minute. But elsewhere, Kleberson is a World Cup winner. Not only that, but the Brazilian even assisted a goal in his side’s 2-0 World Cup final win over Germany.

Then again, I’d fancy my chances of getting an assist if I was passing the ball to the legendary Ronaldo.

The point being, fresh off the back of World Cup success, Kleberson ended up making the move from Atletico Paranaense to Manchester United for a fee in the region of £6.5 million on the very same day that a youngster by the name of Cristiano Ronaldo was also unveiled by Sir Alex Ferguson. United had already seen one South American midfielder flop – that being Juan Sebastian Veron – and so they looked to fill that void with Kleberson. And much like Veron, the Brazil star never looked comfortable at Old Trafford.

To be fair to Veron, of course, he did have moments of brilliance and the odd rare game for United. Where Kleberson was concerned, he was awful from the get-go – not helped by picking up an injury in only his second appearance for the Red Devils.

Injuries, homesickness, and simply awful form saw Kleberson leave United after just two years and 20 appearances. Spells in Turkey, Brazil, and the United States followed after Kleberson’s spell at the Theatre off Dreams came to an end, before the midfielder finally called time on his career back in 2016.

About the author

A longtime football and wrestling fan who's managed to somehow make a career out of writing and talking about such things, Andrew likes to think of himself as an entertaining, informative, and occasionally humourous writer and radio personality - although you may completely disagree with that.

When not writing or talking about the beautiful game and the squared circle, this Welshman can usually be found watching the not-so-mighty Wrexham AFC, scanning sports channels for any sort of football whatsoever, or re-watching classic Bret Hart matches of yesteryear. Elsewhere, Andrew is known as the Online Editor/Lead Writer of Starburst Magazine, a contributor for outlets such as TheRichest, WhatCulture, and TheQuiz.com, a radio presenter for CalonFM, and a panel host for Wales Comic Con.

Feel free to get in touch with any queries, comments, or criticism on the usual social media channels. Just try to be nice :)

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Edited by Pratyay Ghosh