Nemanja Vidic and Manchester United's 8 Biggest Transfer Regrets
At the weekend, for the first time in 853 Premier League games, Manchester United surrendered a two-goal lead and lost when they went down to a humiliating 5-3 defeat to Leicester City.
The horribly porous nature of the United defence highlighted the regret some of their fans still harbour at allowing last season’s captain Nemanja Vidic to leave for Inter Milan in the summer.
In the last 30 years who have been the players Manchester United have most regretted selling?
On the basis of the career they enjoyed after leaving Old Trafford and the impact their departure had on United, here are the top eight players United have most regretted selling.
Jaap Stam
1 of 8
Jaap Stam was at Old Trafford for only three seasons, but the Dutchman remains the best defender I have ever seen play for United.
In his three seasons Stam marshalled the United defence with his unrivalled authority and helped the team win three consecutive Premier League titles, as well as the FA Cup and the Champions League.
It therefore came as a monumental shock when Sir Alex Ferguson sold Stam to Lazio in August 2001.
Six years later Ferguson was forced to admit he had made a mistake, and, per Nick Harris, he was quoted in The Independent saying:
"At the time he had just come back from an Achilles injury and we thought he had just lost a little bit. We got the offer from Lazio, £16.5m for a centre-back who was 29. It was an offer I couldn't refuse. But in playing terms it was a mistake.
"
Cristiano Ronaldo
2 of 8
In the summer of 2009 there was a feeling of inevitability about Manchester United selling Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid.
It had long been obvious the Portuguese international harboured a strong desire to move to the Spanish capital, and while United were reluctant sellers, they had appeared to do well to extract a new world-record transfer fee of £80 million out of Real Madrid.
But the brutal truth is, in the five years since then, it has become increasingly obvious Madrid got themselves an absolute bargain.
Manchester United have never been the same side without him, while Ronaldo has become an even better player and scored an incredible 260 goals in 253 games in Spain.
It has become a real and enduring source of regret at United that they didn’t receive a lot more money for Ronaldo but also that they didn’t fight harder to keep him at Old Trafford.
Paul Pogba
3 of 8
While Manchester United were looking to bolster their midfield this summer, according to Daniel Taylor in The Observer, they enquired about Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba.
They were quoted a price of £60 million, but just two years earlier he would have cost nothing as he was already on the United payroll, but they allowed him to slip from their grasp.
Frustrated at his lack of first-team chances under Sir Alex Ferguson, Pogba refused to stay at Old Trafford and instead fled to Turin in 2012.
As the Frenchman has developed into one of the world’s most exciting young talents, it is a source of deep regret at Old Trafford that more wasn’t done to hold onto him.
Gerard Pique
4 of 8
There was little concern at Old Trafford when a 21-year-old Gerard Pique was allowed to return to Barcelona in 2008.
At the time United boasted a central defensive partnership of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, and thus could offer Pique little playing time and were more than happy to accept a £5 million bid for him.
However, Pique would quickly develop into one of the world’s best central defenders at the Camp Nou, winning four La Liga titles and two Champions League titles with Barcelona, as well as the European Championships and World Cup with Spain.
Six years after he left, United desperately need a defender of Pique’s calibre now.
Nemanja Vidic
5 of 8
As Manchester United languish in the bottom half of the Premier League after conceding eight goals in their first five games, there must be some regret they allowed Vidic to leave this summer.
In his wake the former United captain has left behind a callow-looking United defence that has struggled so far this season.
Still aged only 32 years old, Vidic would have provided some much-needed authority to the younger defenders around him, but earlier this year the United board decided not to offer him a new contract and so he was free to join Inter Milan.
Peter Beardsley
6 of 8
In 1982 Manchester United signed Peter Beardsley for £250,000, but over the course of the season, Ron Atkinson only used him in a single game before letting him leave for Vancouver Whitecaps.
Over the next 14 years, United were forced to watch as Beardsley became one of the finest English strikers of his generation with Liverpool, Everton and two spells at Newcastle United.
Beardsley would even help deny United the League title as a part of one of Liverpool’s best sides who were champions of England in 1988 and 1990.
As Craig Hope in The Daily Mail reported last year, Sir Alex Ferguson considered rectifying the mistake by buying Beardsley back when he was at Everton in 1992.
David Platt
7 of 8
David Platt came through the youth ranks at Old Trafford before signing as a professional with them in 1984.
After only six months, however, Platt was discarded by United and given a free transfer to Crewe Alexandra in the Fourth Division.
Platt climbed his way back up the divisions and would become one of England’s finest-ever midfielders with Aston Villa, Bari, Juventus, Sampdoria and Arsenal.
He also won 62 caps with England and scored 27 international goals, including his famous late winner against Belgium at the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
Mark Hughes
8 of 8
The Welsh striker came through the youth teams at Old Trafford before making his debut in the 1983-84 season and quickly establishing himself in the first team.
Between this debut and the summer of 1986, he would score 47 goals in 121 games for United before Ron Atkinson took the surprising decision to sell him to Barcelona for £2 million.
Hughes would struggle at the Camp Nou, but he revived his career with a successful loan spell at Bayern Munich.
In the summer of 1988, Atkinson’s successor Sir Alex Ferguson was looking for a new striker and brought Hughes back to United from Spain for a club-record transfer fee of £1.8 million.
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