Ranking all 78 Man Utd signings since Sir Alex retired: 21 Ten Hag buys, one in top 10

· Football365

Manchester United have spent £2bn on 78 players since Fergie retired in 2013. Including 21 Erik ten Hag signings, we’ve ranked them all.

We have ranked all 78(!) first-team signings Manchester United have made since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.

That’s right, every single one of them. All together, they cost the club around two billion quid. That’s a lot of wonga for no Premier League titles and remarkable instability.

The Red Devils could have signed Erling Haaland, Jude Bellingham, Moises Caicedo, Julian Alvarez and Dayot Upamecano, but they never did. Instead, they brought in players like Rasmus Hojlund, Facundo Pellistri, Manuel Ugarte, Anthony Martial and Marcos Rojo.

You won’t be surprised to learn that this list is beyond shambolic. There are two, maybe three, undoubted successes.

Time for the full ranking, including transfer fees and the managers who brought each player in.

78) Alexis Sanchez (swap, Jose Mourinho)

The Red Devils signed one of the best players in the Premier League on astronomical wages and he seemed to become an incompetent footballer overnight. Ironically, Alexis did quite well post-United.

77) Jadon Sancho (£76.5m, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer)

Left United in the summer to become a free agent. Cost them over £70m and was out on loan for the last two-and-a-half years of his £250,000-a-week contract.

76) Antony (£80m, Erik ten Hag)

A catastrophic signing but is clearly a talented player. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out. And it absolutely did not for Antony at Old Trafford.

75) Andre Onana (£45.2m, Ten Hag)

Simply a shambolic signing. Perhaps not as shambolic as this…

Back in 2023, when Onana was set to replace David de Gea, we ranked it the fourth-biggest goalkeeper upgrade in Premier League history, writing:

> The inspiration for this list, there is no doubt replacing David de Gea with Andre Onana is a huge upgrade and will certainly ease Erik ten Hag’s headaches next season. > > Everyone knows De Gea’s biggest flaw as a player: his ability with the ball at his feet. Onana’s biggest strength happens to be just that, while he is more commanding, a better shot-stopper, quicker, and far less error-prone than his Spanish counterpart. > > Onana could end up flopping – that is the beauty of this sport – but it seems unlikely. Surely he can’t be any worse than De Gea?

Seriously? But no one saw how bad Onana would be. How he managed to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes remains one of modern football’s biggest mysteries.

The former Ajax and Inter goalkeeper made some catastrophic errors for United and is halfway through a two-year loan at Trabzonspor, where he is now team-mates with Liverpool legend Mohamed Salah.

74) Radamel Falcao (£6.8m loan fee, Louis van Gaal)

Joined with a huge reputation but failed to rediscover his Porto and Atletico form during his Premier League spells with United and Chelsea.

73) Angel Di Maria (£67.5m, Van Gaal)

Joined after a man-of-the-match performance in the 2014 Champions League final, Di Maria somehow flopped at Old Trafford. The only saving grace is that the club recouped £56.7m when he was sold to PSG less than a year after arriving.

> Those Ten Hag signings set Manchester United back years 😬 > > We looked back at every manager’s signings since Sir Alex Ferguson left Manchester United, and it was rather depressing 👎 https://t.co/CJ4AvCujUv > > — Football365 (@F365) October 14, 2026

72) Memphis Depay (£30.6m, Van Gaal)

The No. 7 shirt has become a curse since Cristiano Ronaldo left in 2009; even for Ronaldo himself.

Depay joined as a highly-rated, exciting youngster but the lights were too bright. He scored seven goals in 53 games and left for Lyon for a little over half of what United paid for him.

71) Rasmus Hojlund (£64.7m, Ten Hag)

After signing Benjamin Sesko last summer, Hojlund was sent to Napoli on an initial loan deal that recently became permanent. Serie A suits him a lot more than the Premier League, that much is for sure.

70) Morgan Schneiderlin (£31.5m, Van Gaal)

Superb for Southampton. Not for United. Did leave for £20m, so it’s not all bad. Everton. Bloody Everton.

69) Odion Ighalo (£10.8m loan fee, Solskjaer)

An absurd loan fee for an average player.

68) Andy Kellett (loan, Van Gaal)

Who? Exactly.

67) Vanja Milinkovic-Savic (£1m, Van Gaal)

United fumbled a decent goalkeeper.

66) Martin Dubravka (£2m loan fee, Ten Hag)

Many expected him to feature in the Europa League, however, Dubravka only played three domestic cup games before having his loan terminated. Another decent back-up option fumbled.

65) Jack Butland (loan, Ten Hag)

Brought in for the rest of the season in January 2022 after Dubravka’s loan ended, but did not make a single appearance for the club.

64) Donny van de Beek (£35m, Solskjaer)

Van de Beek’s demise wasn’t completely down to his poor performances, but more down to the fact that he could barely get a kick. He spent a completely bizarre four years as a Manchester United player, making 62 appearances and scoring twice, including in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s final game.

63) Manuel Ugarte (£42.3m, Ten Hag)

Ugarte has been very disappointing after joining for a big fee from PSG. He is currently out with a long-term knee injury, which has ironically saved him from being sold this summer.

62) Guillermo Varela (£2m, David Moyes)

The Uruguayan right-back played four times in the Premier League for United.

61) Bastian Schweinsteiger (£8m, Van Gaal)

Schweinsteiger is a Bayern Munich legend and a forgettable Manchester United midfielder.

60) Lee Grant (£1.5m, Mourinho)

Fits the home-grown quota and joined Manchester United for no other reason.

59) Sergio Reguilon (loan, Ten Hag)

Yes, this happened. And yes, we forgot until now.

58) Victor Valdes (free, Van Gaal)

Both player and club could have done without this move.

57) Tom Heaton (free, Solskjaer)

See Lee Grant. But Heaton was a free transfer. And has been at the club since 2021!

56) Tyrell Malacia (£13m, Ten Hag)

Malacia quickly shifted Luke Shaw out of the starting XI before generously giving his spot back to the England international. Not a good signing, even for the price.

55) Altay Bayindir (£4.3m, Ten Hag)

Signed as a back-up goalkeeper. Is a back-up goalkeeper. At best.

54) Dan James (£16m, Solskjaer)

Never good enough for United and was probably only signed as he was viewed as Young And Hungry. The best thing to come from his move is that James was sold for a rare profit when sold to Leeds.

53) Eric Bailly (£34m, Mourinho)

Erratic and amusing, Bailly was signed for big money and was more comical than he was convincing at defending. Injuries didn’t help him, to be fair.

52) Tahith Chong (free, Mourinho)

Cost nothing, which was a nice deal. Didn’t get much of a chance and was sold to Birmingham City for £1.5m, which, with the benefit of hindsight, we can safely say was not enough.

51) Timothy Fosu-Mensah (£342k, Van Gaal)

Fosu-Mensah was pretty cheap and the club turned a profit in the end. He made 30 first-team appearances and was quite useful due to his versatility.

50) Mason Mount (£55.4m, Ten Hag)

Cost an absolute fortune with only a year left on his Chelsea contract and he has been unable to shake his injury proneness

Mount is obviously a good player, and we have seen it in fits and starts under Ruben Amorim and Michael Carrick.

49) Matteo Darmian (£16m, Van Gaal)

Bang average and sold for only £2m.

48) Marcos Rojo (£18m, Van Gaal)

Often erratic, Rojo was box office at times but for the wrong reasons.

47) Wout Weghorst (£2.6m loan fee, Ten Hag)

Came in to fill a gap between January and June 2023 and was recruited for peanuts, unlike Ighalo. Even still, it was a weird spell for everyone involved.

46) Joshua Zirkzee (£36.5m, Ten Hag)

United paid more than his Bologna release clause and those negotiating tactics are a fair reflection of Zirkzee’s time on the pitch for the Red Devils.

45) Romelu Lukaku (£76m, Mourinho)

Scored 42 goals in 96 appearances, which is actually a respectable return, but nowhere near enough to justify a £76m transfer fee. He was clumsy, his all-round play was often lacking, and his performances only looked worse after the outstanding spell that followed at Inter.

44) Paul Pogba (£94.5m, Mourinho)

Left United for nothing in 2012, was re-signed from Juventus for a world-record transfer fee, then returned to Turin for nothing in 2022.

Pogba, at his best, was a world-class midfielder. His best, however, came when playing for France, not United.

Given the fee, the fact he has left on a free transfer twice and his inconsistent performances, Pogba goes down as a major disappointment, even if he did help United win a few trophies.

43) Henrikh Mkhitaryan (£37.8m, Mourinho)

The other half of the worst deal on this list, Mkhitaryan joined with lofty expectations having provided 90 goal contributions in 140 games for Borussia Dortmund.

Scored in a Europa League final victory for United. Scored a scorpion kick (that would not have counted in the VAR era). Anything good he did for the club was eclipsed by the woeful swap deal which saw him go to Arsenal.

42) Alex Telles (£13.5m, Solskjaer)

Telles was okay when called upon, but nothing more than that.

41) Sofyan Amrabat (£8.5m loan fee, Ten Hag)

This club and their extortionate loan fees…

40) Hannibal Mejbri (£9m, Solskjaer)

Bought from Monaco in 2019, United made a loss on Hannibal despite his potential. Probably because of his temper…

39) Facundo Pellistri (£7.6m, Solskjaer)

There was plenty of faith in Pellistri to come good at Old Trafford but not enough apparently. He joined Panathinaikos for around £5m in 2024 after loan spells with Alaves and Granada.

38) Diego Leon (£7m, Ruben Amorim)

We can’t do anything more than shrug and swiftly move on.

37) Andrey Santos (£48m, Michael Carrick)

Hmm. We are not overly convinced, but we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.

36) Victor Lindelof (£31.5m, Mourinho)

Painfully average and nowhere near the levels required for a £31.5m defender signed in 2017. Now doing a job at Aston Villa after leaving for free.

35) Nemanja Matic (£40m, Mourinho)

Manchester United signed Matic four years too late.

34) Marouane Fellaini (£29m, Moyes)

The first signing post-Sir Alex Ferguson after David Moyes bought him on deadline day for a higher price than the release clause that was active earlier in the window.

Made 177 appearances for the Red Devils before leaving for big Chinese bucks in 2019.

33) Anthony Martial (£54m, Van Gaal)

Joined as the most expensive teenager in world football, scored a wonderful goal on his debut and was being compared to Thierry Henry.

Scored 17 goals in 32 Premier League matches in 2019/20 and looked like he was coming of age. After that terrific year, he looked slow and poor in front of goal.

Ended up joining AEK Athens on a free transfer in 2024 and is currently a free agent after leaving Monterrey.

32) Patrick Dorgu (£25m, Amorim)

His form before getting injured was tremendous, but under Carrick, Dorgu is a back-up winger and a suspect full-back.

31) Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£49.5m, Solskjaer)

One of Erik ten Hag’s biggest success stories. Enjoyed a very productive 2022/23 campaign but was never able to usurp Diogo Dalot. Also, his transfer fee will always look very silly.

30) Karl Darlow (free, Carrick)

Proved he was a solid first-choice goalkeeper for Leeds in last season’s Premier League, so United getting him for nothing to provide cover for Senne Lammens is a great deal.

29) Benjamin Sesko (£73.6m, Amorim)

The jury is very much out, but we suspect they are ambling towards a ‘Guilty of being massively overpriced’ verdict.

28) Leny Yoro (£52m, Ten Hag)

Astronomical potential but that was a debut season to forget. But, maybe, just maybe, right-back can be his position.

27) Harry Maguire (£78.3m, Solskjaer)

Often the scapegoat and always mocked, the former United captain has put in many good displays for the club. He’s also made many high-profile errors. Definitely not worth the money he cost, but definitely not as bad as people say.

26) Daley Blind (£15.7m, Van Gaal)

Versatile, consistent, rarely outstanding. Played over 140 times in four years at Old Trafford and is back at Ajax.

25) Raphael Varane (£36m, Solskjaer)

Failed to convince everyone that he is in fact a four-time Champions League winner during his time at Old Trafford. Injuries did not help but what a disappointment he was.

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