Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand believes there are only three signings who’ve performed well for United over the last decade. He picked Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Burno Fernandes as the three names.
The Red Devils have largely had underwhelming seasons since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013. They have failed to win the Premier League since and have only won one Carabao Cup in the last seven years. One major issue has been their recruitment over the years.
Ferdinand believes only three signings have performed well for Manchester United in the last decade as he said on The Sports Agents podcast (via Metro):
“When you look at the recruitment, I think there’s only three players that I can remember coming in and then going, ‘Okay, they’ve played at a level that you would have expected.’
“Bruno [Fernandes], Cristiano [Ronaldo] and Zlatan [Ibrahimovic]. The only three players I thought that you go, ‘Actually I saw consistently what I expected to see from them.'”
He added:
“Everyone else just fell well short. For whatever reason it is, they just haven’t hit a standard you expect them to come in for. There’s no value in them in what you expect. So they have to get to the bottom of that.”
Manchester United have spent a lot of money over the years on players. However, big-money signings like Antony (£86 million), and Jadon Sancho (£73 million) have failed to impress.
A look at Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Bruno Fernandes’ time at Manchester United
The Red Devils signed Ibrahimovic from Paris Saint-Germain in 2016. He contributed 29 goals and 10 assists in 53 games and helped them win the UEFA Europa League and an EFL Cup. He then moved to Los Angeles FC in 2018.
On the other hand, Manchester United re-signed Cristiano Ronaldo in 2021 from Juventus. He was their top scorer in the first season back, scoring 24 goals and providing three assists in 39 games across competitions. However, Ronaldo had a falling out with manager Erik ten Hag the following season and left in November 2022 after mutual contract termination.
Bruno Fernandes, meanwhile, arrived at Old Trafford from Sporting CP in January 2020. He has been one of the most crucial players for Manchester United since then, having registered 79 goals and 65 assists in 231 games. The United skipper has been in good form this season as well, contributing 15 goals and 12 assists in 46 appearances.
