Our Transfers Rated - Fergie

SambaBoy

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Following on from Neville and Carraghers analysis on Monday night football about our transfers since 2013 in a green/amber/red list. It made me wonder how Fergie's signings would have looked so I gave it a go. Maybe a bit harsh to put some in red whilst the likes of Buttner get in amber. However the expectation on someone like Kagawa was very different to a backup LB punt. Staggering that since 2013 - around 70% have been 'red' signings whilst under Fergie the majority would be 'green'.

Green

Rio Ferdinand
Wayne Rooney
Robin Van Persie
Ruud Van Nistelrooy
Michael Carrick
Nani
David De Gea
Dwight Yorke
Cristiano Ronaldo
Antonio Valencia
Ashley Young
Jaap Stam
Carlos Tevez
Nemanja Vidic
Gabriel Heinze
Dimitar Berbatov
Andy Cole
Roy Keane
Patrice Evra
Chris Smalling
Henning Berg
Chicharito
Park Ji-Sung
Jesper Blomqvist
Teddy Sheringham
Gerard Pique
Edwin Van Der Sar
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Ronny Johnsen
Eric Cantona
Lee Sharpe
Peter Schmeichel

Amber
Fabien Barthez
Louis Saha
Phil Jones
Juan Sebastian Veron
Anderson
Alan Smith
Alexander Buttner
Mame Diouf
Quinton Fortune
David May
Ben Foster
Michael Owen

Red
Shinji Kagawa
Owen Hargreaves
Diego Forlan
Bebe
Kleberson
Nick Powell
Zoran Tosic
Eric Djemba Djemba
Karel Poborsky
Gabriel Obertan
Tim Howard
Roy Carroll
David Bellion
Jordi Cruyff
Dion Dublin
Massimo Taibi
Mark Bosnich
 
Lacks a bit of consistency between amber and red.

Why are Hargreaves, Forlan and Kagawa red while Buttner, Diouf, Fortune, Smith, Owen get an amber?
 
Personally I'd probably have Saha and perhaps even Owen above Young. If you only count the performances for games he was fit enough to play in, Saha for me would be green, his record for us was actually really good. Owen did us some favours too. Young was decent, and gave me a lot of pun opportunities, but not much in the way of "wow what a good signing that was".

Pique is puzzling to be green, for me. He barely played for us, we sold him for £5m, he went on to become wildly successful. I suppose it was inevitable that he'd go there so we couldn't have much clout in the debate but if it weren't for having Rio and Vidic in the team in notably incredible form, he'd have been a great success for us in the long run in a position we struggled with once Rio and Vidic left. But, again, he'd probably have gone anyway. I'd say Amber.

Saddens me to see Kagawa as a red but I'm not sure I can argue against it. Guy is such a talent, just wasn't the perfect fit for us, sadly.
 
Could quibble about a few but yeah, broadly agree with your assessment. And our struggles since Fergie are a direct result of getting so many transfers wrong.

The only complicating factor is the possibility that some of our more recent red/amber signings could maybe have been green as part of a more functional team, under a manager who knew how to get the best out of them. So our issues go beyond just targeting the wrong players.
 
I bump down veron and maybe even barthez while bumping up Hargraves as he at least gave us one good season.
 
Owen should be in a separate tier, like black tier due to the connection he now has to the club because he was an ex-player.
 
paulscholes18 said:
Hargreaves in red is very harsh considering Blomqvist is in green.
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Wasn't really sure where to put Blomqvist to be fair, I was only young when he was playing.

But I've seen a lot of people since say he was underrated and a very good player but obviously had Beckham/Giggs to compete with. Hargreaves was fantastic in that season we won the CL but from memory, he was never first choice? I always seem to remember him playing and getting MOM though but after that season, his Utd career was a disaster. Potentially an amber signing, however he was signed with big expectations and for a decent price at the time.
 
We hardly even played Pique. More like a red.
Diouf a red. Scored on debut and disappeared.

No way I will rate Berg, Jesper, Heinze as green.

Diego forlan, Howard, Roy Carroll, Poborsky are amber for me.
 
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TheReligion said:
Nah it’s a myth Veron was terrible.

United even got £15m back by selling him to Chelsea after his stint here.
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The reason we managed to recoup some of that loss was simply due to his (deserved ) name recognition not due to anything he did with us, he gone on to be quite terrible for Chelsea as well, he was done.

Look at that infamous madrid game for example, the moment Fergie took him out and brought bekham in we improved, he never gelled with the team and fergie's insistence on playing him almost cost us the title.
(Though my memory might be faulty on the last point but didn't he start dropping him from the starting 11 in the latter half of the season? )
 
So many goalkeepers in the red :lol:

Harsh having Hargreaves in red. Yes he had injury problems but he helped contribute to a great season for us.
 
Red the Bear said:
The reason we managed to recoup some of that loss was simply due to his (deserved ) name recognition not due to anything he did with us, he gone on to be quite terrible for Chelsea as well, he was done.

Look at that infamous madrid game for example, the moment Fergie took him out and brought bekham in we improved, he never gelled with the team and fergie's insistence on playing him almost cost us the title.
(Though my memory might be faulty on the last point but didn't he start dropping him from the starting 11 in the latter half of the season? )
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Sure he wasn’t a green but for me he wasn’t a red either. Amber is right for him however I understand it was disappointing given the expectations when he arrived.
 
TheReligion said:
Sure he wasn’t a green but for me he wasn’t a red either. Amber is right for him however I understand it was disappointing given the expectations when he arrived.
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Fair enough, it's a shame how it turned out , he was true maestro at work at his time in lazio but I guess the English pace didn't suit his game, shame.
 
Green needs to be broken up into two tiers -- on no planet can Keane and Valencia be placed in the same tier.

Antonio did a job for us and deserves more than amber, but he doesn't belong in the same bucket as Keane, Cantona and a few others.
 
Forlan was such a waste, we signed him and played him as the furthest forward, playing on the last man. His natural game was to play deeper and where he thrived at subsequent clubs and national team. Scouting was poor on him, the memo must have been good south american forward, and we assumed he was a poacher.
 
Largely agree, only quibbles from me would be Blomqvist (Amber), Berbatov (Amber), Buttner (Red), Sharpe (Amber).

Acole9 said:
Pique green? He was shite at United.
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Harsh I think. He was 18 when he was here and well behind the pecking order of Vidic, Rio and Evans. He still bagged a few goals that season in the CL and then went on to have an impressive loan at Zaragoza
 
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