3 expensive Manchester United defenders who were successful at Old Trafford and went on to have a trophy laden career at the Theatre of dreams.
Manchester United have completed the high profile signing of Harry Kane from Leicester City for £80 million, a world-record fee for a defender! With this signing he has now eclipsed the previous record of £75 million held by Liverpool’s Virgil Van Dijk. Fans of the club are excited at the promise of resurgence now that they have seemingly fixed their back four.
With Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Victor Lindelöf, Luke Shaw and Maguire taking charge of the backline, United’s supporters are convinced that manager Solksjaer has fixed one of their problematic areas that cost them a top four spot last season.
The Centre back must currently be euphoric after making his big money move. However, he will soon feel the brunt of expectations that comes one’s way with wearing the Red Jersey of United. Here are 3 expensive defensive signings who had a stellar career at Old Trafford, that Maguire can take inspiration from.
Honourable mentions
Before we get into the list. Here are a couple of names who could have made the list but missed out for a reason or other. The legendary Steve Bruce and Patrice Evra. Both of these defenders would go on to have memorable careers at Manchester United and became living legends.
Steve Bruce
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Bruce joined the club in the December of 1987 and stayed with them till 1996. He was notorious for his goal scoring and even ended up as the highest goal scorer for the club in the 1990/1991 season with 19 goals. It’s a shame, he never played for England.
At United he would go on to win twelve trophies including three Premier League titles, three FA Cups, one League Cup and the European Cup Winners’ Cup. He also became the first English player of the 20th century to captain a team to the Double. However, his transfer fee of merely £800,000 is the reason why he didn’t make it into this list.
Patrice Evra
Patrice Evra moved to United in January 2006. While he had a rough first season with United Manager Sir Alex Ferguson saying “Maybe it was a bit of a gamble playing Evra”. Evra himself confessed that he was not prepared to play for United. However, he soon developed under the watchful eyes of Ferguson and soon became one of the best Left-backs in the world.
In his 8 years at United, the Frenchman won five Premier League titles, one UEFA Champions League title, one FIFA Club World Cup, three League Cups and four Community Shield titles. He was also included in the PFA team of the year on three different occasions. However, he misses out on the list because the others on the list have simply had slightly more impact on the team than Evra did.
With that out of the way, let us look at 3 expensive Manchester United defenders who were successful at Old Trafford.
Jaap Stam
The legendary Jaap Stam makes it to the third place. To say that he had a stellar career at Manchester United would be an understatement. Alex Ferguson purchased the center back £10.6 million from PSV. This made him the most expensive player at the time. The astronomical price Ferguson paid did for him did not worry the manager one bit. Instead he claimed that PSV had made a mistake selling him. And mistake they did indeed.
Stam would go on to win 3 consecutive premier leagues with United. He also added one FA Cup, the Intercontinental Cup and the UEFA Champions League. Stam was known for his speed, strength and aerial dominance. All of which came in handy during United’s treble in 1999. Unfortunately, his United career was cut short after he managed to cross Ferguson through his autobiography, Head to Head, where he claimed that Ferguson approached to buy him without the permission of PSV. He was sold to Lazio in 2001 for £16 million. However, Ferguson later claimed that doing so was a huge mistake.
Regardless, Stam achieved more in 3 years than many do in their entire careers. Unfortunately, the fact that he provided United with only 3 years of service is why he is ranked at 3.
Nemanja Vidic
The Serbian terminator signed with Manchester United on the Christmas of 2005. He made an immediate impact with the team helping them to a league cup. However, he truly came into his own from the next season onwards.
He established himself as a first team player and made a deadly partnership alongside Rio Ferdinand. Together they terrorized strikers all around England and Europe. Together, they helped United to a record-breaking run of 14 consecutive clean sheets.
Vidic won three consecutive EPL’s and Five in total. He was also included in three consecutive PFA team of the year sides from 2007 to 2009 and made the list 4 times in total. Vidic also received the Premier League player of the season twice in his career. Making him the first defender to do so and the third overall, only behind Thierry Henry and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Vidic played with United till 2014, giving them 211 games and making himself a club legend in the process. In his prime, he was regarded as one of the best defenders in the world and he became the template for what one should look for in a center back.
Rio Ferdinand
Like Harry Maguire now, Rio Ferdinand joined Manchester United as the most expensive defender in the world. United paid £30 million in 2002 to rivals Leeds United to secure his services while fans wondered if he was worth the money. 17 years later, it is only fair to say, not only was he worth the money spent, but he has had the most successful career at the Theatre of dreams of all the players that played ahead of the keeper.
As was mentioned before, Ferdinand formed a potent combo with Vidic. Where Vidic was forceful, Ferdinand was graceful and hardly ever looked in a hurry. He was often compared to Milan great, Maldini, due to the elegance he had in his. Ferdinand is considered one of the greatest players to have played for England and has had a decorated career at Old Trafford.
Ferdinand won six Premier League titles and 14 trophies in total with United which also includes a champions league trophy. He featured in the PFA team of the year, 4 times in 5 years. Ferdinand gave United 12 years and played for them 312 times. It is a career very few can match and it is for this reason, he is Manchester United’s greatest ever defensive signing.
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