10 Biggest Dodged Bullets In Man Utd Transfer History

9. Thomas Vermaelen

Manchester United were tracking Thomas Vermaelen earlier this summer and came close to signing the Arsenal centre-back, only to pull out of the deal when the Gunners asked for Chris Smalling to be included as part-exchange. Instead, the defender joined Barcelona, and United may have dodged a bullet already. Earlier this month, it emerged that Vermaelen's dodgy track record for injury has once more caught up with him, with the Belgian centre-half struggling with a hamstring injury sustained while playing for his country at this summer's World Cup. A chequered injury record cost Vermaelen his place in the Arsenal first team to begin with, and with United already without defender Luke Shaw with a hamstring problem of his own, having the centre-half join him on the sidelines would have been something of a disaster. There were concerns Vermaelen wasn't good enough for United anyway considering he was a second-choice outcast at Emirates Stadium, while paying £15 million for a 28-year-old doesn't seem like the best bit of business. Fortunately for Red Devils fans, he is gracing a Spanish treatment room rather than an English one.