As everyone connected with Manchester United went through another period of introspection after last Saturday’s innocent defeat by Everton, Rio Ferdinand made a bold statement. The former defender said that of all United transfers in the last decade, only Bruno Fernandez has really developed as a player during his tenure at the club. Rio Ferdinand has suggested that Bruno Fernandez is the only acquisition of Manchester United in the last decade that has improved while he was at Old Trafford. Ferdinand says Fernandes has improved his game since arriving at Old Trafford in 2020 “I do not know others who have come and you really go, ‘Oh, it’s really miles better!’ “We will take more money from him now!” “It does not exist,” he said. It took a hat-trick by Cristiano Ronaldo to see United go through Norwich on Saturday and Ferdinand’s goal came true again.
With United spending around 15 1.15 billion on new transfers since the start of Sir Alex Ferguson’s last season as manager a decade ago, this is a condemnatory indictment of how an extremely successful club has been allowed to decline. These 10 years have seen four coaches and a fifth coming this summer, a constant reversal of largely inadequate players and just a handful of trophies. During Ferguson’s glorious years, almost every player would improve during his time at Old Trafford. As he said, the only way after United was to fall and for many years that was true. But since 2012, as Ferdinand said, almost every player who is brought in – including many at a huge cost – has either run out of water or is getting worse while at the club. Sir Alex Ferguson signed lifting the Premier League trophy for the 2012-13 season 10 years of shift and decline followed with United miles away from winning trophies And few things show more clearly the lack of common thinking and the lack of a consistent culture as United have cut and changed coaches from this sweeping lack of player improvement. Fernandes is really the exception. Ever since he reached the middle of the 2019-20 season, the Portuguese playmaker has generally been first-class for United. The amount of his transfer may now be close to μμύ 68 million with all the extras, but that seems like an opportunity, certainly compared to other big money arrivals at United. Even if the goal is allowed to fall and the assists return this season, not to mention the strange moment, Fernandes improved United and improved by being at United compared to the man who arrived from Sporting Lisbon. Not that United would want to sell the 27-year-old in the near future, but, by Ferdinand logic, he would be one of the few who would not only keep but increase their transfer value. Fernandes was great for United last season, but often looked disappointed this season There were not many. Going back 10 years, we could argue that Robin van Persie improved shortly after moving from Arsenal by £ 24 million in 2012, as he eventually won the Premier League title. But the Dutch striker was already a top-flight striker and a key player who agreed that the change was an opportunity to work under Ferguson. His last two seasons with United – after Ferguson’s departure – were plagued by injuries and he was unable to maintain the same scoring standards. Juan Mata, a sign of despair in the middle of the unfortunate season of David Moyes in 2013-14, can be added to Ferdinand’s list. For two or three years, he was the United lock-up midfielder and helped him win the FA Cup in 2016 and the Europa League the following year. Robin van Persie aspires to win title before ending time at United But let ‘s not forget that Mata scored 33 goals and provided 58 assists in two and a half seasons for Chelsea, helping them win the Champions League, so it was more of a continuous excellence than an improvement. A stronger case could be made for Ander Herrera, who signed from Athletic Bilbao for 32 million pounds in 2014 and would make almost 200 appearances for United in five seasons. He was the club’s player of the year in 2016-17, when he won the EFL Cup and the Europa League, which says a lot about his abilities. The other candidate for improvement is Luke Shaw, but it took a long time after injury problems and a frozen relationship with Jose Mourinho. Ander Herrera belongs to the very small category of players who improved when with United Luke Shaw was slow to get better, but flourished under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Only under the most constructive guidance of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer did Shaw achieve the best form of his career last season. Although shared with many others, his form has fallen in recent months. But until there. As Ferdinand suggests, the list of players who have gone downhill since coming to United is much longer. United paid a world record 89 89 million for Paul Pogba, but it is hard to say that he has become a world-class footballer during his time there. Paul Pogba is the typical example, the man that United broke the world transfer record to sign from Juventus for 89 million pounds in 2016. Only very rarely in the five years since then has the midfielder appeared world-class to United, a fact that has become even more confusing than his achievements in winning the World Cup for France. As Pogba prepares to leave United this summer, very few fans will weep and his setback is highlighted by a lack of specific interest in acquiring him, even for nothing. Pogba is 29 years old and should be at the peak of his strength. United did not even enjoy the strong Pogba who dominated the games for Juventus, let alone coach him in an even better player and was criticized on Saturday after he left his ears to the fans. His relationship with the fans seems to be low and that says something. What about other markets that are collapsing banks? Angel Di Maria was European champions when he was bought for 67 67 million in 2014. He never moved to Manchester and United were forced to reduce their losses just a year later. Anthony Martial’s transfer costs have been steadily rising since 2015. The striker was 20 years old when he came to be one of the best in the world. He has enjoyed some good times, especially in his first season, but the general trend has been declining. Now 26, Martial is on loan at Sevilla because Solskier did not want to play him. Angel Di Maria (left) and Anthony Martial (right) are among United’s costly failures He was not selected by France when he won the 2018 World Cup and is unlikely to play in Qatar later this year. Another expensive waste. Harry Maguire, who cost εκατο 80 million in 2019, was very good last season and for England at Euro 2020 last summer. But the club boss has been indebted at times this season and it would be a boost to claim that he has improved while he was at United. Defending teammates Eric Bailey, Victor Lindelof and Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who all came in with heavy transfer costs, have hardly become world winners during their time at Old Trafford. Harry Maguire was in good form last season, but fell back into the current campaign Alexis Sanchez (left) and Romelu Lukaku (right) also never reached their potential at United Then there is the long list of rubbish that was and is gone, none of which has improved in any way, shape or form with United: Memphis Depay, Morgan Schneiderlin, Matteo Darmian, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Alexis Sanchouse Lanchez. a. Hundreds of millions of pounds in transfer costs have been wasted on players who have not improved the United team or improved enough personally to be able to sell at a profit. So Rio is right and whoever comes as the next United manager has the unpaid duty to rebuild them from the ground up.