Which of the three is the worst signing ?

Maguire. £80m one-time payment lest anyone forget. Ronaldo aside, no other player has created such a massive financial hole for the club with next to nothing received in return.
 
The on-pitch contribution to money spent (transfer fee + wages) ratio makes this a non-question, really.

Maguire was decent for a fair while. Donny was considerably cheaper. Do the math, as they say.
 
VdB - zero contribution and 80% value lost
Sancho - minor contribution and 50-60% value lost
Maguire - half decent contribution and 50-60% value lost

So between VdB and Sancho given his fee.
 
Has to be Donny.

Maguire has at least been competent at times but his confidence has been shattered and Sancho has that goal, with a few glimpses

All Donny has is that goal in a game that's most remembered for the post match penalty

As for Pogba. The frustration with his is that we all expected so much and he couldn't deliver. But occasionally he would show up what we could have had. Every now and again he would suddenly become the guy and just make the opposition look amateurish. Unfortunately the opposite was the case far to often though.
 
Maguire no doubt. It was obvious back then, that we would overpay by a multitude for a player that wouldn't fit a half modern approach. Sancho is high up the list as well and I think, getting such a young player for such an amount was a mistake, but at least there was a chance, that the amount will pay off due to age. VDB is a great depiction of the cluelessness of the recruitment team - bad transfer nonetheless but as it was a competetion between those three players, he wins the "smallest issue" award.
 
Varun1 said:
A few years ago there was this big thing made of our recruitment refresh and how we're sounding out players through people who knew them, basically to understand their attitude, behaviour etc...wtf happened when we signed Sancho and that twat Maguire!
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Like the majority of our press briefing, it’s just a press briefing with no actual action taken.
 
Chumpsbechumps said:
I think his averaged out contributions were over rated moreso then his ability. Getting a goal or assist in a game is great , but there’s no stat that can also factor in all the negative things that came with those performances. People only remember the headline assist/goal and pedal it as the only thing that matters when discussing the player.

When he was bad, he was absolutely dogsh*t bad for a player of his ability. I think alot of people were happy to let his moments of greatness outweigh objective assessments of his overall contributions.

He just didn’t have these memorable moments consistently enough to have a passenger like him in the team.
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This post could very easily be talking about Bruno.
 
Trex said:
Pogba didnt fulfill his potential but he was miles better than the likes of Sancho. Maguire was never worth the fee but was decent in his first two seasons. Vdb has done absolutely nothing, its incredible he came just six months after Bruno. Considering everything (fee, hype, performance) Sancho has been the most disappointing. Its the absolute lack of effort that gets to me, he doesn't bother to do much, doesn't bother to be involved. Its just the odd nutmeg, or goal or assist every now and then. No coherent body of performance. Not even within a single game.
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Hard to believe, VDB actually scored on his debut!
 
Chumpsbechumps said:
No, it really couldn’t.
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The parts about playing poorly and coming out with an assist or chance creation really could. The only part I’d say I disagree with is passenger. I’d accept that Pogba on a bad day was a passenger but Bruno’s general performances are regularly poor but he still runs around.
 
Still Maguire for me, mainly because the decision even at the time was a bad one and you knew we instantly overpaid by probably double for a player that never really fit. At least with Sancho we paid a big fee for a player that was (seemingly) worth it at the time, and even now we probably won’t have an issue selling him on.

Of course Maguire has more good performances especially from a few years ago, but the actual transfer decision was a worse one.
 
Jeppers7 said:
The parts about playing poorly and coming out with an assist or chance creation really could. The only part I’d say I disagree with is passenger. I’d accept that Pogba on a bad day was a passenger but Bruno’s general performances are regularly poor but he still runs around.
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Still years later and I’ve never seen a player more bizarrely hated by a fanbase than Pogba for someone that basically his biggest crime was getting haircuts and being too inconsistent overall for the price we paid.
 
Valencia Shin Crosses said:
Still years later and I’ve never seen a player more bizarrely hated by a fanbase than Pogba for someone that basically his biggest crime was getting haircuts and being too inconsistent overall for the price we paid.
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The whole thing was weird. You get people citing two bad passes in an overall brilliant performance. On the flip side you’ve now got players getting credited for two good passes in a poor performance by the same fans who criticised Pogba.
 
Jeppers7 said:
The whole thing was weird. You get people citing two bad passes in an overall brilliant performance. On the flip side you’ve now got players getting credited for two good passes in a poor performance by the same fans who criticised Pogba.
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I have to assume it’s a combination of old heads hating the dances/swag/etc and many thinking Pogba was going to be a combination of Zidane and Keane rolled into one because of his talent. When he wasn’t, nothing he did was going to be good enough.

I mean feck me I remember times when he’d run an entire game and get an assist and many would be in the performance thread after just pissy that he didn’t “do it more often”. And for the record I’m not some Pogba Stan, I had my moments of being fed up with him at times too.
 
Valencia Shin Crosses said:
I have to assume it’s a combination of old heads hating the dances/swag/etc and many thinking Pogba was going to be a combination of Zidane and Keane rolled into one because of his talent. When he wasn’t, nothing he did was going to be good enough.

I mean feck me I remember times when he’d run an entire game and get an assist and many would be in the performance thread after just pissy that he didn’t “do it more often”. And for the record I’m not some Pogba Stan, I had my moments of being fed up with him at times too.
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We all should have and it was definitely time for him to go regardless of how it turned out. But the overall assessment of him was just so strange. It just magnified on bad moments. The minute he had a bad game it was suggested that he never had good games despite him having 7/8 good games prior. We’ve had far better players like Scholes and Keane, I get that but it doesn’t justify a total reinventing of history.
 
It really is a toss up between all three. I'm secretly hoping the Sancho saga will conclude and he can excel for us. (A man can dream). VDB has been inexistent for us, but I do think he should've been given a longer run in his second season. Maguire is just a walking calamity with a mistake in his game at any time and the amount of goals he's individually cost us, it has to be him.
 
Other two aside, you have to just imagine how poor van de Beek is in training to not even get near the team for two years, injuries notwithstanding.
 
Sancho.

What's VDB doing here ? We didn't really spend that much for him. He's shit but hardly a big deal that he failed.

Antony should have been the third option in this awful contest.
 
Sancho has literally shown nothing since he arrived, Maguire at least has had a few decent games and VDB at least wasn't that expensive.
 
Sancho considering the fee and wages. VDB was always a Bruno backup or punt for a midfield spot, while Maguire had a good-enough first season or 2.
 
el3mel said:
Sancho.

What's VDB doing here ? We didn't really spend that much for him. He's shit but hardly a big deal that he failed.

Antony should have been the third option in this awful contest.
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What? It’s a worst signing thread, not a who do I like thread. He’s done zero. Sancho pisses all over him on any metric and he’s been terrible. VDB is 40 mill pissed up a wall. Tragic.
 
Sancho and Donny have been busts, but Maguire has made so many errors that have led to conceding goals that it's hard to pick anyone but him.

I really can't think of another United player that made so many boneheaded mistakes on the pitch and still got playing time year after year.

It'd be bad if we had spent 40 million on him, the fact that we spent double that is truly embarrassing.

I would say that he is without any doubt the worst player to ever make more than 150 appearances for the club.
 
Jeppers7 said:
We all should have and it was definitely time for him to go regardless of how it turned out. But the overall assessment of him was just so strange. It just magnified on bad moments. The minute he had a bad game it was suggested that he never had good games despite him having 7/8 good games prior. We’ve had far better players like Scholes and Keane, I get that but it doesn’t justify a total reinventing of history.
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Yeah like did he live up to the price tag? No probably not. But he certainly shouldn’t be regarded as some disaster of a signing
 
1) Maguire. for his fee, salary, countless high profile mistakes, the negative attention, and now being stuck with him. Not all his fault of course but it is what it is.

Sure his first season was decent but it’s nowhere near world class or anything outstanding.

2) Sancho is another expensive disappointment but is not as bad when it comes to high profile mistakes and he does chip in with the occasional goal or assist.

3) Vdb is largely a non entity here. Not that expensive and didn’t cost as much in finances and points on the field.
 
Valencia Shin Crosses said:
Yeah like did he live up to the price tag? No probably not. But he certainly shouldn’t be regarded as some disaster of a signing
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Spot on. He’s a cherry on the cake player. worth £89 mill under the perfect circumstances? Maybe…Underwhelming under our circumstances? Definitely. One of our best players over his time, also definitely. Deserves a mention alongside VDB or Sancho…Ridiculous.
 
VDB didn't cost us much, but has he even contributed 2 matches worth of good performances? Sancho cost more, but has contributed like 8x the amount.

If we were looking at pure efficiency, VDB is a worse signing. In terms of negative impact, Sancho is worse because he simply cost more.
 
VDB no question. zero impact for 40mil.
Maguire was ok for a season or two, his confidence is shot now, he plays like he has the world on his back and is scared to touch the ball and the next big error is moments away.
Sanchos has had some excellent games amongst more average to poor games. He has the ability to be a fantastic player but hes ruining his potential by lack of appetite to push himself, playing the victim card when ETH won't allow him to get away with it is not a good look.
 
Sancho, cost the most, delivered nothing. A few bright moments and games where you think this is it he’s going to kick on, then nothing.

Maguire has had way more upside even if now his time is clearly up.

VDB price was cheaper but has been appalling, purely footballing wise comfortably the worst and most pointless of the three.
 
Think we need to consider what we needed when we siged them and other options available or linked with and how its shaped us no.

All three have obviosly been poor but...

Sancho looked a good signing at the time even though we over spent, ts just that he has had an impact compared to the talent akin to Alexis Sanchez. In retrospect it has been awful as he is definately better on the left and his failures have had us spending another £80m on Antony.....where e now may have to sign ANOTHER right winger, so in terms of the butterfly effect he may in transfer fees alone be costing us well over £200m let alone all th e wages.

Maguire at the time was an ok signing. He was doing well in the premiership and for England, but £80m was at the time ridiculous even though we have seen similar fees for Van Dyk that turned out well. But he should have been half the price AND for me there were a few better options in that window that were all cheaper so it wasnt a great signing. The buttefly effect though is that we neded to sign another cb and we got Martinez which is good. But this season he hasnt left and it has stopped us signing another rcb.....which I think will cost us a CL place over the season.

For me though the worst signing "at the time" is VDB. Despite doing well at Ajax he was never what we needed when we were stuck with McFred and also neening to sell Pogba and Matic, who both stayed and left for free. This was the sumemr we were heavily linked with Grealish who would have played instead of an awful season from Rashford and could have been a Fernandes back up and also a summer we were linked with Caicedo before he went to Brighton so the butterfly effect was huge. We are till stuck with half of McFred and only recently sold the other for nothing, we got no monay for Pogba/Matic, we signed another cm for free in Eriksen as the VDB that we will prob need to move on this summer, we have spent a fortune on a still failing midfield in Casemeiro, Amrabat and Mount.....add to that VDB has arely played and when he has....he has barely played.

VDB fo rme is the worst signing of the three in terms of we should never have signed him, players we could have signed and were linked with in the same window and how it has affected our transfer business since then and the fact he hast even played. The other two have turned into awful sigings and been financially awful....there affect on our transfer business both looking bad this season though
 
Maguire had two great seasons. Until August 2021. Sancho and VDB haven't shown anything.
 
Dannn411 said:
Maguire. £80m one-time payment lest anyone forget. Ronaldo aside, no other player has created such a massive financial hole for the club with next to nothing received in return.
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Sancho cost ~5m less and hasn't shown anything in his first 2 seasons. Decided to kick up a fuss with the manager at the start of his 3rd season.

Maguire was great for 2 years and always been a professional.

Claiming that the club received "next to nothing" from Maguire and it was only him and Ronaldo to ever do that is quite something.
 
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Maguire isn't in the same league as the other two for wasted money vs actual contribution on the pitch. He at least had 2 decent seasons.

VDB zero on the pitch for £40m+ in transfer fee and wages. We can't give him away.

Sancho £30m+ in wages alone already, ignoring the huge transfer free. Next to nothing on the pitch and can't even be bothered training.
 
Infra-red said:
Sancho was the worst value, but I think we'll get £30m+ from West Ham/Villa/Everton/Newcastle or similar next summer. Our last chance to get a fee for Maguire was this summer, but the club didn't want to pay him off, which already looks like an expensive mistake.
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We'd have will fish at centre back for many games this season if we just paid him off at all cost

That's the reason why the people that run clubs don't make decisions based on emotion and anger like fans would
 
I would say Sancho even though I feel a bit sorry for him. He never made sense as a signing in the first place which is probably partly why it hasn't worked out. Annoying as there is a good player in there.

Maguire is terrible but had at least 2 decent half seasons under Ole. Then Ole let him drown week after week when he blatantly needed taking out of the firing line and I think that's done permanent damage.

VBD similar to Sancho. He made zero sense as a signing. We bought him to play in a position that doesn't exist. He just cost less than the other two.

So basically I don't really blame any of the three. Two were dumb signings to start with and all three have been terrible managed by the club.

Pogba trumps all of them by a mile. He actually did make sense as a signing and then proceeded to play like garbage 80% of the time and engage in public sh*t stirring whenever any manager tried to drop him or address it.
 
Football only Sancho.

Overall I think Maguire because Sancho will be easier to sell.
 
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