Being the self-styled biggest team in Premier League history comes with certain responsibilities: you have to compete every season, you have to evolve, building more than one great team and replacing legends with potential legends. Obviously missteps are occasionally made as faith is put in the wrong men for the job - like David Moyes - but more often than not the Red Devils have the right finances to ensure they can bring in the world's best players to make up for some of their higher profile mistakes.
With that in mind it's no surprise that some of the biggest transfer deals in Premier League history have involved United: they have amassed a fortune and a net worth that would put some small countries and several large cities to shame and have looked to bring in some truly exciting talents. And because everyone knows how much money the Red Devils have, they usually find that their targets mysteriously rise in price.
Not all of those decisions have proved to be right: gambles have been taken on hugely expensive players who are now no more than very costly mistakes and footnotes in United's Premier League history. And some of the prices paid for even those over-rated, under-delivering "talents" are enough to make your eyes water...
10. Ángel Di María
Rating: £59.7m
An astonishingly expensive deal but a massively talented player, Di Maria's move from Real Madrid in 2014 was a major statement of intent for Van Gaal. While he's still getting to grips with the league, he looks a frightening addition.