Has there ever been any value in Manchester United buying from other top tier clubs, historically?

JeffFromHK said:
It depends.
sneijder sold by Real Madrid at 10m
van der vaart sold by Real Madrid at 10m
Robben sold by Real Madrid at 22 m
Thiago sold by Barca at 22m
Kroos sold by Bayern at 22m

* We actually could snatch both players at the same price but we rejected both moves OURSELVES

Buying players is like buying stocks, you can buy players at a value price if the player's current club has underestimated the value of the player, vice versa.

Man Utd in the past 10 years has an extremely poor ability to valuate players, hence it always sell low buy high, i.e. selling Jonny Evans, a player easily worth 15m, at 3m.
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It's really strange how Woody was so good at the commercial side of the business, but so terrifyingly incompetent in the transfer market. Almost like he let his ego run the football side
 
No and I tend to agree with Rangnick when he says there’s more value in getting players on their first or second contract when they’re hungry for success. Buying them when they’ve got nothing to prove, often for more money, makes little sense and Fergie seemed to agree seeing as we never really did it.
 
Dante said:
Historically, no.

Fergie only bought two fully developed world class players in his 26 years here: RvP and Veron.

It's only been under Woodward that we shifted to a Galactico policy and bought stars in their prime from top tier clubs.
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Which big players have we bought post Fergie that have been in their prime? Di Maria aside?
Most of our Woodward specials seem to have been past their prime, going off name.
 
phelans shorts said:
He was also a very expensive bench warmer by the end of his one season. Impossible to say it wasn’t a flop.

2001/2 Leeds were a very different prospect to what we see now. They were Champions League semi finalists the year before we signed him, they absolutely count.
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So he warmed the bench but still had second most assist in the league? Hmm….
 
Maticmaker said:
Depends on what you mean by top tier and when were they in the top tier?
My definition to be a top tier club would be ones who have won the CL or old European Cup, more than once.... not just domestic titles
So in the UK that's United, Liverpool and Chelsea, its a wider trawl in other countries of course, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Ajax, Juventus, both Inter and AC Milan, Bayern Munich.

Cannot think of any from UK, obviously RVP from Arsenal (but they haven't won a CL/EC) was valued, at least for one season, you might argue Own Hargreaves from Bayern, but he had injuries lurking and didn't go the full distance for us; all the rest of the big names who came didn't really pay off (except perhaps in shirt sales) and its possible Varane will go the way of Hargreaves in terms of injury issues

Seems 'top tier' teams don't do too much business with us, except to take from us (CR) in particular , but when they do sell us top players, they tend to be ones who are injury prone.

So my answer would be.... very little value!
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Arsenal are very much a top tier club and have been for decades despite what other clubs fans say.

I’m saying this as a United fan too. If Chelsea are top tier - Arsenal 110% are too. Porto won a champions league and Arsenal are a far bigger club than they will ever be.

In the past few years it’s seems only 4 clubs can buy anyone. Madrid, Barcelona, city and PSG. We have a kind of top of the top tier these days and past European Cups don’t matter.

Players might move around the tier below like United or Pool even Bayern these days who dropped but it’s obvs extra difficult to get players from those ultra rich or glamorous sides in the moment.
 
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Same is probably true for most clubs best the vast majority of signings are not from equal teams. Probably only RM have done enough to give an indication and some are stellar, one particularly stands out, quite a few don’t work out.
 
Son said:
Arsenal are very much a top tier club and have been for decades despite what other clubs fans say.

I’m saying this as a United fan too. If Chelsea are top tier - Arsenal 110% are too. Porto won a champions league and Arsenal are a far bigger club than they will ever be.
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I think they are a top tier club, but not the "very top tier" alongside Bayern, Real, Barca, Juventus, Liverpool, United, and at the moment City and Chelsea. I count that as clubs that are both rich and challenge for trophies regularly, the ones that are considered peak employment for most footballers. Arsenal & RVP combined together for 8 seasons and their only trophy was the FA Cup in his first season there - although they did hit the UCL final in the second of those eight seasons. Personally, at the time he moved, I didn't view Arsenal as one of the peak European clubs, no.

EDIT: If anyone is wondering, no, I don't think we are a "peak European club" at this very moment in the eyes of a footballer.
 
Rvp?
Dante said:
Historically, no.

Fergie only bought two fully developed world class players in his 26 years here: RvP and Veron.

It's only been under Woodward that we shifted to a Galactico policy and bought stars in their prime from top tier clubs.
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Despite his quality Veron was never suited for english football.
 
I seem to remember it was pretty much a policy of Sir Alex to go out and get a rival teams too player each season, to weaken them and strengthen us. Think about Cantona from Leeds, Cole from Newcastle, Yorke from Villa, Sheringham from Spurs, Smith from Leeds, Rooney from Everton, RVP from Arsenal etc. obviously business between us and City and Liverpool is fee and far between because of the rivalry, and City haven’t really been a top team until the oil money came in. In the recent past (since the 90s) the likes of Madrid and Barcelona have been seen as a step up which is why most of our business with them has been outgoings like Beckham and Ronaldo.
 
Son said:
Arsenal are very much a top tier club and have been for decades despite what other clubs fans say.
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I was referring to 'my definition' of what could be considered a 'top tier' club and when that applied.

Sure Arsenal have been a 'Top Tier' domestic club for ages, could even argue they are the longest serving 'top tier' club in the top divisions as far as domestic competitions are concerned, but I would not consider them in modern day terms 'top tier' and not when they sold us RVP.

Each to his own, that's the beauty of Red Cafe
 
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