Whilst the majority of Manchester Untied signings have gone on to become legends at the club, produce something heroic or just do well for themselves, there have been some real flops. No matter what club you sign for, there’s every chance you’re going to be a failure at a top club because of the pressure on you to perform week in week out.

Some United purchases have come with great expectations and ended up being laughed at before getting sold. Here are five who get the thumbs-down from me:

Massimo Taibi - £4.4m for the Italian goalkeeper, and a joke of a goalie he was as well. How he ended up letting that ball go through, in what looked like a very awkward position, from a speculative Matt Le Tissier shot is beyond me. This led to him being nicknamed the ‘Blind Venetian.’ He ended up playing four times for United before all concerned realised the signing was a mistake…

Diego Forlan – it makes sense that he was labeled ‘Diego Forlorn’ when he left! This guy took 27 matches and eight months to score his first goal, and he was supposed to be a real prospect when he arrived at Old Trafford for £7m. He went on to only score 10 goals in 63 Premier League games, and was eventually released after two seasons at the club.

Eric Djemba-Djemba – a replacement for Roy Keane? In what sense? I’d be surprised if Keane didn’t make Djemba-Djemba clean his boots. His weaknesses were highlighted even more by the fact that he was signed when United were going through a transition period and players like him just made the task harder. No doubt he tried hard, but shouldn’t have been brought in the first place.

Dion Dublin – the striker scored two goals in two seasons and appeared so infrequently that he twice missed out on Premiership medals after failing to play the 10 games required to gain one. Whilst he had success elsewhere, United was too big a step for Dublin.

Juan Sebastian Veron – this was a tough one, because he did have some contribution in United’s European matches. Anyway, Veron’s £28m fee looks even more like a waste of money when you see how he destabilised the team. He forced Paul Scholes out of his favoured position (to play as a support striker), struggled with the pace of the English game, produced no way near the standard of performance he did for Argentina and Lazio and generally looked out of place. When you let a rival club pay half of what Sir Alex Ferguson paid for him, than you know you’re glad to sell him.

The five players represent some of the poor decisions that even a club like Manchester United can make. However, there are players that aren’t in this list that could easily be in there. Feel free to name and shame the ones who you think wasted their time at United.

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