3) Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
The days of £100 million signings were not even a fantasy when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer signed for United back in 1996 for a mere £1.5 million, but he turned out to be one of their shrewdest and perhaps most invaluable captures ever as he surprised everyone with his knack for hitting the back of the net as a genuine super-sub. The Norwegian scored 29 times in that role for Manchester United over the years.
Looked to as a back-up after their pursuit of Alan Shearer had failed, the Norwegian wasn’t exactly a household name at the time of his arrival but he would quickly come to banish that view as he wound up as the club’s top scorer in the league in his debut season with 18 goals as United basked in the glory of yet another title. It was a great introduction to life in the north-west and although he rarely became a regular on the starting XI team sheet, he was often no.1 in the fans’ hearts.
It almost bears repeating but his immensely important goal in the 1999 Champions League final against Bayern Munich which secured them “ol’ big ears” immortalised him as a club legend, and deservedly so. That, plus he was instrumental in helping them bag 12 other trophies along the way.
Always mentioned with a smile by the fans, Solskjaer should be proud of what he achieved and will go down in history as one of the most humble, yet driven, players to ever join the club.
