Rough Guide to Manchester United Manager David Moyes' January Transfer History

Allan JiangDec 4, 2013

If you support Manchester United, you should want to know the thought process of your manager, David Moyes, during the January transfer window. So here is a rough guide to Moyes' January transfers when he was Everton's manager from 2002-2013.

Yes, the budget of United and Everton are poles apart, but the point of this slideshow is to demonstrate whether or not Moyes makes competent decisions in the winter transfer period.

Don't hesitate to comment below with your opinions.

David Moyes' Best and Worst January Signing

1 of 3

Clive Mason/Getty Images

Best: Mikel Arteta (loaned from Real Sociedad, 2005)

A former Barcelona graduate who was familiar with the British playing style having spent two seasons at Rangers, Arteta found himself on the outer looking with 93.3 percent of his games sub-affected under then Sociedad manager Jose Mari Amorrortu.

"I don't feel good picking up money and not playing football," Arteta said, via BBC Sport. "I hope moving to Everton will give me this chance."

David Moyes turned the loan deal into a £2 million transfer and Arteta became one of the club's greatest Premier League players.

He won successive club Player of the Year titles (2006 and 2007) before being sold to Arsenal in 2011 for an £8 million profit.

Worst: James Beattie (signed from Southampton for £6.5 million, 2005)

He had only scored three league goals that season for the Saints prior to Moyes breaking the club record to bring Beattie to Goodison Park.

"His record is as good as anyone in the Premiership," Moyes said, via CNN. "Obviously for me it was important to get one or two more British-style players into the squad."

Moyes committed the cardinal sin in signing a player based on reputation rather than form.

He bought too much stock into the expression: "form is temporary, class is permanent."

Beattie did not turn into the 20-goal-a-season striker Moyes expected.

In September 2005, William Johnson of The Telegraph wrote, "With James Beattie—their record £6.5 million signing from Southampton—watching from the stand as a strong contender to be the worst purchase of the year, Everton seem to have run out of ideas up front barely a month into the season."

In Beattie's last season for the club, he scored two goals from 35 goals, both coming from the penalty spot.

Moyes responded by forcing Beattie out.

"Moyes said, 'I have accepted a bid from Sheffield United. I think it's time you moved on.' I wanted to stay and prove him wrong," Beattie said, from The Daily Telegraph via Pete Allison at Sky Sports. "But, he made it clear in no uncertain terms that I wasn't going to play. I would have liked closure but it was left as 'you're off, see you later'."

David Moyes' Peculiar January Transfer Window Experiences

2 of 3

Ben Radford/Getty Images

Stranger-Than-Fiction Moments

Anderson de Silva

Signed in 2005 with David Moyes and club management seemingly unaware the Brazilian did not possess an EU passport, per Toffee Web:

"
There have been a few strange transfers in David Moyes's time at Everton. What manager doesn't occasionally get burned by a deal that doesn't come off? But the protracted acquisition of Anderson Silva was perhaps one of the most bizarre.
The saga started in 2005, when Brazilian midfielder Anderson Silva supposedly become an Everton player when the club purchased his "commercial and federative rights", held at the time by Uruguayan side National Montevideo even though he actually played for Racing Santander in Spain.
Everton soon found to their dismay that he did not possess an EU passport which would have enabled him to circumvent the requirement to have played 75 percent plus of your country's international games in order to qualify for a work permit.
"

Consequently, Everton paid Anderson to go on loan for several years.

"We are talking with Anderson de Silva about the possibility of him staying on with us a little bit longer," Moyes said, via EvertonFC.com.

Moyes' plan of finding a diamond in the rough epically backfired.

In fairness to him, it worked a few years later when he signed Seamus Coleman from Sligo Rovers in 2009, who is now one of the best right-backs in the Premier League.

Ibrahim Said

The Egyptian defender was signed on loan from Al-Ahly in Jan. 9, 2003 and left Everton by mutual consent in April 14, 2003.

He was taking a sabbatical to care for his sick mother.

However, Amr Shaheen at BBC Sport was skeptical of Said's claims:

"
Questions are being raised after the player turned up at his club, Al Ahly, hoping to play in the weekend's big Cairo derby against Zamalek.
If he had been selected, it would have meant him going to a closed training camp for five days, where he would have been unable to have any contact with his mother.
Ahly officials have also said they are not aware of her having any illness.
"

In his second loan spell from Manchester City, he packed his bags and headed for Brazil without telling Everton.

Why did he do that? A normal person doesn't just go AWOL.

"He left over a busy period and left us short of players," Moyes said, via BBC Sport. "We've suspended him from the club. It might change but at the moment that's the situation."

Jo returned to City where he was loaned to Galatasaray.