7 Manchester United Players of Last 10 Years Who Never Won over the Fans

Manchester United's new crop of signings has made a varied start in terms of catching the fans' attention.

Matteo Darmian won a vote for Man of the Match on the club's official Twitter feed after his debut against Tottenham Hotspur. Bastian Schweinsteiger has come on as a substitute in both games so far and essentially begun strolling around like he owns the place and generally looking the best player on the pitch as soon as he arrived in action.

Morgan Schneiderlin has been tough-tackling and decent in possession. Memphis looks like he is trying very hard to impress and struggling slightly with the step up from the Eredivisie to the Premier League. 

All of them have begun the journey of winning over the fans. But what of the players who haven't been able to do so?

All of these players—or most of them—have had their supporters among the Old Trafford faithful. However, all of them have struggled to win the belief of either the majority or a sizable minority of fans.

In some cases, that is a bit of an indictment of those fans and demonstrates an occasionally worrying lack of patience. Three of those listed have come through United's ranks. It sometimes feels that United fans judge their own more harshly, which is a bit of a concern when it comes to nurturing emerging talent. 

That aside, and without further ado, let's take a look at this not-so-magnificent seven.

Anderson

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We start with an easy one. Plenty of fans carry a degree of affection for the apparently always cheery Anderson. However, at least as many were entirely frustrated by the "this season he'll come good" mentality his supporters held so dear.

He never really did come good, picking up injury after injury, becoming an increasingly peripheral member of the squad and eventually being pretty hard to shift.

Undoubtedly in possession of tremendous talent, as his early years showed, Anderson's United journey saw him win medal after medal. However, after the first few, he never really did much to contribute to winning them.

United fans continued to sing his not-suitable-for-print song with aplomb, but over time, its lyrics about his relative merits when compared to his peers grew less and less accurate as his admirers grew fewer and fewer in number.

Alex Buttner

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Alex Buttner's United career was the kind of United career that is forgotten about fairly quickly. Sir Alex Ferguson was fond of a punt in the transfer market, and Buttner definitely fell into that category. A back-up left-back who looked much more comfortable going forward than defending, Buttner rarely won many plaudits.

There were a couple of exceptions—his surprisingly excellent performance in the Champions League quarter-final home leg against Bayern Munich in the David Moyes season, for example. 

For the most part, though, the reaction of the fans to Buttner was that he was just a bit "meh."

Antonio Valencia

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This one is a bit of a cheat, so apologies for that. Antonio Valencia did, of course, win fans over. He was voted their Player of the Season in 2011/12. 

However, that now seems like a purple patch in an otherwise unconvincing United tenure. He has now been at the club for six seasons, and the good seasons have been the exception rather than the rule. By now, fans seem relieved to see the aforementioned Darmian replacing the Ecuadorian at right-back, given he is a considerably better fit for the role. 

The things that made the fans love Valencia—his direct, brave and purposeful running at full-backs in particular—are mostly absent from his game now. Listen to the groans from the Stretford End next time you see Valencia turn and check back inside rather than taking on his man in an attacking situation. That should provide ample evidence plenty of fans are pretty much done with a former favourite.

Danny Welbeck

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Danny Welbeck was a cult favourite at United. However, the endless memes and affection he generated was counterbalanced by huge numbers of United fans who thought, well, he wasn't very good. 

When he signed for Arsenal last summer, some fans were sad, feeling they had lost a player who was truly one of their own. However, plenty of fans joined in with chants aimed in his direction after he returned to Old Trafford in the FA Cup. Those chants made clear, in considerably less polite language, the fans singing them had always been aware of Welbeck's limitations as a player.

He won over plenty of fans with his apparent enthusiasm for the club, but any discussion about him when he was at United would unearth plenty of fans who saw little value in the Longsight-born striker.

Ah well: He's someone else's problem now.

Bebe

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Bebe's transfer to Manchester United will surely be remembered as one of history's oddest. 

He was plucked from relative obscurity with a remarkable back story. A player who had once slept rough and was playing in the Portuguese third tier, Bebe's ascension to United was a remarkable and heartwarming surprise. 

Sadly, he was nowhere near good enough for the Red Devils. Not even close. 

He played for the first team a couple of times and had plenty of games with the reserves, but his eventual return to Portugal was no surprise. He never won round the fans because he never had time to. While his story was a moving one, the reality was his ability was far short of what was required.

Tom Cleverley

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Oh, Tom Cleverley. If you read a wistful note in that sentence, you were correct to do so. There was a time when Cleverley was the next big thing. He and Anderson formed an exciting, dynamic and effective partnership in the opening games of the 2011/12 season. Their deft one-touch passing and propensity for brave, attacking football led to some great performances, including the 8-2 demolition of Arsenal. 

Sadly, Cleverley picked up an injury after an unfortunate challenge by Bolton Wanderers' Kevin Davies and was never quite the same player. It did not help that he began working on a brand before he had truly established himself. Right or wrong, that did not go down well with fans.

The "next big thing" status was never justified. During Ryan Giggs' brief tenure as manager, he removed Cleverley from the pitch during a 4-0 win over Norwich City. Fans cheered the substitution, so unimpressed had they been by his contribution. Few tears were shed when he moved away on loan last season and left the club permanently this summer.

Jonny Evans

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Jonny Evans has a dedicated band of admirers who are keen to point out what an important player he was during Sir Alex's final title win. Alongside Rio Ferdinand or Nemanja Vidic, Evans had plenty of good games in a United shirt. 

However, he has always had plenty of doubters, and their voices have been getting louder and louder over the past two seasons. Any cursory search among United fans on Twitter or in forums will reveal plenty of anti-Evans sentiment. 

It would be nice if United fans were more inclined to give their homegrown players the benefit of the doubt.

It would have been interesting to see how Welbeck, Cleverley and Evans would have developed in a less critical culture. However, the culture is not likely to change for some time, so for now, these seven, and plenty more beside, will have to resign themselves to their status as players not held in high esteem by United fans.