Your top 5 favourite Manchester United players of all time

In defining my favourite United players, it’s a mix of what they did on the field, the charisma or character they brought with them, and also what they represented to, and for, United as a whole:

1. Eric Cantona: The flair, the belief, the title, the man, the king.

2. Wayne Rooney: When we signed him we were signing the best young player in the world. It was a sign of our standing and of our dominance of the English game. It was also unbelievably exciting. Add to that his selflessness on the field, and he was a player I loved in United colours.

3. Paul Scholes: A quiet genius and the antithesis of the modern footballer. No flash, no agent, just pure football. A joy to behold.

4. Roy Keane: The living personification on the manager on the field. A fierce competitor and warrior but also an exemplifier of the highest standards of excellence.

5. Rio Ferdinand: Best in class. The true definition of a rolls Royce of a player and character.

It was tough to leave out so many others. Especially Beckham, Giggs, Schmeichel and Van Nistelrooy. Ronaldo was always a player I admired but never ever liked.
 
In no real order.

1. Ronaldo - just class, loved how he played. So exciting and in a great team.

2. Alan Smith - loved the slide tackles, the passion, the hair.

3. Van persie - Classy, intelligent, unique player.

4. Ferdinand - the best CB I've seen, pure class.

5. Van Nistelrooy - needs no explanation really.
 
In no particular order:

- RVN
- Rooney
- Rio
- Scholes
- De Gea

Honorable mention: Chicharito
 
Rooney
Scholes
Ferdinand
Evra
Beckham
 
Only those who I watched live playing for United (I saw Best, but only when he came to the US):

Cantona
Keane
Beckham
Rooney
Vidic

Cantona was Best reincarnated for me, but without the mazy runs. His impact on the trajectory of United on the world football stage cannot be overstated. Keane, well, we know about his deficiencies but what a colossus he was. Beckham is enjoying rehabilitation now but during his playing days he was criminally underrated. Rooney had so much ability but gave so much to accommodate Ronaldo and others. And Vidic, with all due respect to Rio, is without any question the greatest CB in United history.
 
Couldn’t put them in an order as I may see an old clip and my order would change but I’d say for me it’s Bryan Robson, Lee Sharpe, Ryan Giggs, Eric Cantona and Cristiano Ronaldo in his first spell although Roy Keane, Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney are very close to that top five.
 
There's only one player that I don't have to deliberate over, and that's Wayne Rooney. For sure my favorite United player ever.

The other 4 spots I couldn't ever nail down, but they'd be some combination of:

Beckham
Scholes
Giggs
Ronaldo
Keane
Cantona
Yorke
Cole
Rio
Vidic
Neville
 
Roy Keane:
A force of nature on and off the pitch. As much responsible for our success than SAF. The greatest captain we ever had. That semi final Vs Juventus 99 still my favourite game of all time.

Eric Cantona:
Named my son after the guy. Nuff said . .

Bryan Robson:
The reason I started supporting Utd. Saw a game as a kid where his head was gushing blood and throwing tackles in all over the place. I was a Utd fan from the day on.

Nemanja Vidic:
Always felt it was an unfair advantage that we had a T-800 playing for us. The Serbinator. . Only quality captain we’ve had after Keane.

Wayne Rooney:
Like having a pit bull on the pitch. As he put it “I hated losing more than I loved winning”.An animal . .

Honourable Mentions:

Ruud Van Nistelrooy:
The man just wouldn’t stop scoring. It was insane. Arsenal were 12 points ahead of us one season and the man just went on a ridiculous scoring run. Won us the league!!

Andrei Kanchelskis:
The Russian bomber. Always a buzz of excitement when he was on the ball. The pace, the cut inside . . etc
 
Cantona
Scholes
Carrick
Smalling
Bruno

Honorable mention: Schmeichel, Stam.
 
Scholes.
King Eric.
Vidic.
Rooney.
Beckham.

Ronaldo and Keane are great players but I don't like their personality.
 
ooh I do love these type of threads, a bit of lovely positivity;

there are so many though and some greats like Rooney, Scholes, Hughsey and Rio just miss out here;

1/ Eric Cantona - where do i start, a born entertainer, key to that title (and others to follow), that goal against Newcastle and just a bit of a mad lad.

2/ Roy Keane - for me the epitomy of a winner and the blueprint for an Utd player. A leader and and a top class footballer too. i don't have recollection of Bryan Robson at his best but i suspect he was similarly moulded.

3/ Patrice Evra - great full back, loves the club and a bit of a mad lad that even today makes me laugh in his interviews.

4/ David Beckham - i really enjoyed his football, back in the day i used to listen to a lot of Utd radio commentaries and his ability to suddenly smash in goal from anywhere and put a cross on the head of a striker was amazing. Seems like a good sort too. I think he has always been a bit underrated and deserves serious respect for his playing career.

5/ Cristiano - he was just so entertaining and a constant threat, i can even forgive the more recent shenanigans
 
I am old so
Edwards
Best
Law
Charlton
Robson (close with Cantona)
 
Giggs, don't care what you think about the man, he was an utterly glorious, beautiful player. No player has ever brought the electricity to the OT crowd like Giggs on a European night.

Andy Cole, love the narrative and story of his time at Utd, the tough start, the injuries then when he had been written off came back and became one of our best ever strikers. Also a guy who was all about the team success, came as an out and out scorer, turned into a top class all round forward and might have the most impressive variety of goals in any compilation you could make of a modern era player.

Mark Hughes, a pity how he has soured his legacy in his post Utd career, but what a journey he had, from young star to the big move away to a return and a major part in the beginning of Utd becoming the top club in the Country again.

Scholes, elite technician and scorer of so many key goals

Robson, hero of my first years watching Utd, and my dads favourite player.
 
Only those I have watched.

Top 3 will always be Giggs, Keane, Beckham.

The remaining 2 will probably keep changing but for now, probably Solskjaer & Rooney.
 
Hughes35 said:
In no real order.

1. Ronaldo - just class, loved how he played. So exciting and in a great team.

2. Alan Smith - loved the slide tackles, the passion, the hair.

3. Van persie - Classy, intelligent, unique player.

4. Ferdinand - the best CB I've seen, pure class.

5. Van Nistelrooy - needs no explanation really.
Click to expand...
True story, i started watching Leeds when i first picked a team to watch. I then followed Alan Smith to United when they went into administration as i knew they weren't coming back any time soon.
I was surprised they signed Alan Smith. Harry Kewel and Viduka were more prolific or talented. I just liked Alan Smith as he was english and young and super determined.
 
Bryan Robson
Roy Keane
Eric Cantona
Paul McGrath
Norman Whiteside

(Probably. Close anyway. Only listing players active in my own time as a fan. Only listing players based on how I rated them as players as a fan at the time, some of them may be serial killers, dunno, don't care.)

ETA I rated Whiteside extremely highly at the time, when I was ten years old. I obviously don't consider him a GOAT candidate today, as a bitter old feck. My assessment, as a bitter old feck slash football history nerd, of Cantona is also very different now compared to what it was in the 90s. But the list is based on how I felt back then, and - I suppose - still feel now (about those players).

That said, my assessments of Robson, Keane and McGrath (as a bitter old feck) remain very close to my heartfelt rating of them at the time.

Meaning: I genuinely believe McGrath was exceptionally good, and I'd take him over anyone (including Rio, Stam and Vidic). And my all-time XI would feature both Robson and Keane.
 
Last edited:
Not necessarily the best 5 by any means, but:

Ole - the tap in vs Charlton post injury is the most I've ever enjoyed a completely meaningless goal
Forlan - I just loved him.
Scholes - best footballer I've ever seen play. Ronaldo etc better players obviously but Scholes literally went about 5 years without misplacing a pass or picking the wrong option.
Evra - probably the best of the lunatics when it came to combining being absolutely bonkers with still being extremely good.
Ruud - led the charge against that despicable Arsenal team. The fact they hated him just because he'd stoop to their level made me like him more

Beckham, Rooney during specific periods would be on there. Cantona only misses out because I can't fully remember back then. Probably about 30 other names I could mention. Always had a soft spot for Welbeck too. Vidic/Rio I loved but always thought of as a combo. Used to enjoy sitting in the Stretford end watching them take turns to bully and gradually mentally destroy whatever striker they were up against.
 
There are too many, but without a doubt for me out of those I have watched regularly and long enough:
1. Keane
2. Beckham

After that it’s probably Giggs, Scholes and RvN.

Special mention goes to RvP who despite only having 1 really good season for us had won me over for a lifetime.
 
Beckham
Rooney
Ji sung Park
Vidic
Scholes

Ander Herrera is also weirdly close to my top 5
 
USREDEVIL said:
True story, i started watching Leeds when i first picked a team to watch. I then followed Alan Smith to United when they went into administration as i knew they weren't coming back any time soon.
I was surprised they signed Alan Smith. Harry Kewel and Viduka were more prolific or talented. I just liked Alan Smith as he was english and young and super determined.
Click to expand...

Yea, loved him at the time. Thought he was a better player than given credit for too. Scored some good goals for us.

Also liked him at Leeds. They loved him before he came to us.
 
Keane
Vidic
Berbatov
RVN
Giggs

Zlatan, Schweinsteiger, Cavani, Falcao, Larsson, Forlan and a few others are high on my list of favorite players of all time, but I can't in good conscience put them down for their time at United
 
Ancient person, but here goes:

Best.
Cantona.
Ronaldo.
Rooney.
RVP.
RVN.

Anthony (heh heh).
 
Beckham, Scholes, Keane.....I like good midfielders and we haven't had one since Carrick.
 
Cantona — coolness personified
Scholes — he's what football is all about
Beckham — I can watch him making his crosses forever
van Nistelrooy — a player of the type that I don't really like but it was different with him
Rio — he made defending look so beautiful

Honorable mention to Anderson (really), there was just something about him — I swear, his joy was contagious

Best, Charlton, Law, McGrath, Robson (& Hughes) are my favourites from the older times but it's a bit different when you watch games from the past. You still get the emotional connection and the feeling of adoration, but it's not the same (not for better or worse, just different).
 
Robson - world class despite being often injured.
Stevie Coppell - my first favorite player
Ronaldo - watching him develop into the best player in the world was magical
Cantona - the king
Whiteside - beloved by all who saw him play
 
You must log in or register to reply here.