Who doesn’t love a transfer bargain?
As a fan, seeing your club bring in a player for cheap, who’s typically unknown or has a vast mystery around his profile and watching him become a superstar is nothing short of amazing.
Every big football club has dozens of scouts, scattered across the globe, searching far and wide for the next Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.
Very rarely is a talent of this pedigree or a bargain to this nature found.
But when a hidden gem is unearthed, this can bring returns on and off the pitch.
Benfica’s scouting, development and sales pitch brought them £113m, when they sold Joao Felix in 2019 to Atletico Madrid, which for a Portuguese side which sits outside of the deep pit of financial freedom also known as the Premier League, is a huge thing which cannot be underestimated.
As the business side of football has developed, the buy low and sell high model has been used significantly.
Even sides as big as Liverpool have had to use this model, despite their wealthy financial position.
Thus, with the ever-impending danger of FFP and breaching this, every club needs to find some bargains and make some healthy profit to stay sustainable.
But even before FFP was even a consideration, clubs always wanted to discover the hidden gem and get the best possible bargains.
Here is Manchester United’s 10 best bargain signings.
10th – Ji Sung Park
A cult hero at Old Trafford.
An unforgettable servant for the club, whose work rate and effort was the perfect role modelling attributes for younger players.
Park signed for United in 2005 for just £4m.
When Park initially heard the rumour that United were interested in him, he thought it was just a joke.
When speaking to NBC sports, Park said: “My agent told me that Man United were interested in me, but I thought it was a joke, why? Then I just didn’t take it seriously.”
But a certain Scotsman was waiting for a call.
Park said: “My manager said to me that Sir Alex Ferguson was waiting for your call! I said ‘What? Why?’ and he said ‘he wants to talk to you’ and then I realised he was really serious.”
Park played an exceptional role as a squad player but will be fondly remembered for the day he gave Andrea Pirlo a schooling.
9th – Zlatan Ibrahimovic
An icon of the game, from his footballing ability, through to his unique boisterous personality.
Ibrahimovic will likely be remembered for his time at PSG, Barcelona, AC and Inter Milan, but his short two-year tenure at United was still enough for the footballing giant to stamp home his authority and leave a unique legacy at the club.
The Swede joined United on a free transfer from PSG in 2016.
Ibrahimovic had scored 38 league goals and assisted 13 just the season before and so was no slouch despite being 34-years-old.
In his first season at United, Ibrahimovic scored 17 league goals in 28 games, but his influence came in other competitions, as he was integral to United’s Carabao Cup success scoring a brace in the final against Southampton.
He also scored the winner in the Community Shield final against Leicester.
The Swede scored five goals and assisted four in 11 of United’s Europa League games before the striker suffered a severe injury in the quarter final against Anderlecht.
United went onto win the tournament despite this.
Unfortunately, the injury Ibrahimovic picked up against Anderlecht was serious and put him out of action for six months.
The player that returned was a shadow of his former self.
Ibrahimovic left the following summer in 2018, to LA Galaxy on a free transfer.
However, despite his short stint, the impact Ibrahimovic had in one season was enough to solidify the Swede as one of the best bargains in United’s history.
8th – Bruno Fernandes
In the past week, the Portuguese has passed five years in a United shirt.
Time flies.
Fernandes signed for £46.6m with the potential to rise to £68m.
From the desperation and scramble to ensure his signature, to the transformation of the United team with his arrival, Fernandes has certainly left his mark.
Before his arrival, United lacked creativity, imagination and ideas.
United’s forwards were dying out for just a droplet of extra service.
This all changed with Fernandes’ arrival.
The Portuguese came in and scored eight goals and assisted seven in just 14 Premier League games.
He was integral to United’s push for top four, having sat 14 points of third place Leicester in January before finishing above them and in third by the end of the season.
Since then, Fernandes has scored a total of 71 goals and assisted 60 in his 215 appearances for the club.
Now, you might say that £46.6m with the potential to rise to £68m is no bargain, but with inflation, this fee relative to the sheer difference the Portuguese made is a definite steal.
7th – David de Gea
A shot stopper like no other, De Gea was unbeatable in net.
With the Spaniard in goal, you could never celebrate early.
A thunderbolt destined for the top corner was no match for De Gea.
Rival fans would be left in agony watching United’s number one miraculously save his team again and again and again.
De Gea signed in 2011 for £17m as a replacement for Edwin van der Sar.
In his 12 years at the club, the Spaniard won the Sir Matt Busby player of the year award four times, with three coming in a row.
De Gea has made more memorable saves for United then you could count, but one game always comes to mind.
December 2017.
The Emirates.
De Gea vs Arsenal.
United’s former number one made 14 saves to deny Arsenal and help his side to a 3-1 win and end ‘The Gunners’ 12 match home winning streak, whilst making the most saves in a Premier League game ever.
His latter seasons at the club weren’t to his previous prime, but De Gea will forever be remembered as one of the great goalkeepers of the game.
6th – Patrice Evra
Known to be quite an ‘unusual’ character, there was nothing unusual about his footballing ability though.
Signed in January 2006 for £5.5m, Evra left United eight years later as a legend.
Evra featured 379 times for United, scoring 10 goals and assisting 38.
As he played more, the Frenchman cemented himself as a stalwart of United’s left-hand side, offering a fearsome threat when progressing forward from left back.
A fascinating personality and a brilliant player.
Undoubtedly a phenomenal bargain buy for Ferguson’s men.
5th – Edwin van der Sar
After the departure of legendary goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel in 1999, Ferguson struggled to replace the Dane for several years.
Many goalkeepers came and went, but only one man was able to lock down the number one shirt consistently.
His name.
Edwin van der Sar
Signed from Fulham for just a reported £1.5m fee in 2005, Van der Sar became a pivotal figure and leader in the United squad that had so much success in the late noughties.
The Dutchman shielded United’s goal 266 times, keeping 135 clean sheets.
Whilst Van der Sar played a large majority of his career in England, United’s former number one will be remembered for a certain moment he caused in Moscow, Russia.
His penalty shootout save against Nicolas Anelka to win United the 2008 Champions League final, will forever be remembered by United fans and Chelsea’s too.
4th – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
£1.5m gets you the treble winning goal.
Not a bad pay off.
Solskjaer personifies the concept of a super sub.
In an 8-1 victory over Nottingham Forest, with just 18 minutes of the 90 to go, the baby-faced assassin came off the bench and became the first Premier League player to score four goals in this way.
A reliable, hard working and brilliant footballer.
Despite his shortcomings managerially, Solskjaer will forever be remembered fondly for his historic goal in 1999 and his countless other super sub goals.
3rd – Nemanja Vidic
A titanium rock at the back.
Vidic joined United in January 2006 for just £7m.
The Serb was partnered with Rio Ferdinand, creating a dominant backline for the next eight years.
Ferdinand and Vidic became one of the greatest centre back partnerships of all time.
Vidic is still to this day, the only defender to win the PFA player of the year award twice coming in 2009 and 2011.
Arguably the greatest centre half the Premier League has ever seen and one of the best the world’s ever seen as well.
2nd – Denis Irwin
Mr Consistent.
In 2013, speaking about Irwin, Ferguson said: “But honestly, I would say Denis Irwin would be the one certainty to get in the team. I called him an eight out of 10.”
In his 12-year stint at United, Irwin would always perform well.
Arguably the most reliable player Ferguson ever had.
Irwin’s only fault is that he came in the era before social media, as he doesn’t get the publicity or praise he deserves.
For £650,000, the versatile fullback is one of the greatest footballing bargains ever.
1st – Cristiano Ronaldo
Had to be.
In 2003, United signed a scrawny teenager from Lisbon in a questionable £12.24m move.
But any questions were soon answered with aplomb.
Ronaldo went from a nobody, to the best player in the world within five years at the club.
In 2008, after playing a major role in United’s Premier League and Champions League victories, Ronaldo won the Ballon D’or.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuN_hhz6oXQ&t=2s
Since then, no Premier League player has won it.
The Portuguese started out on the right wing, driving at defenders, using his remarkable ball control and skills to get around the opposition.
As Ronaldo developed, he moved away from the skills solely, and massively strengthened his output.
This work helped Ronaldo become the goalscoring machine he is to this day.
When speaking to FA tv, ex United defender Ferdinand discussed how Ronaldo improved his output.
He said: “He didn’t have a great shot when he came. He had a powerful shot but it went everywhere.
“He used to go out after – he was embarrassed – pick up a bag of balls, walk around to another pitch right over the other side so he could hide behind the trees.
“Ronnie, where are you going man?’ I’m just going over there.’ After a few months you’d see. ‘Where’s Ronnie going? He’s doing shooting, he does stepovers.”
Ronaldo’s had natural talent but his work ethic is what separated him from every other player in the world.
For £12.24m, United got arguably their best ever player to put on that famous red jersey and step out onto the ‘theatre of dreams’.
The bargain of all bargains.