10 Most Expensive Man Utd Transfer Flops In History

3. Garry Birtles (£1,250,000)

Having won the First Division and back to back European Cups with Nottingham Forest, you can see the reasoning behind Dave Sexton's decision to shell out £1 million for Garry Birtles in 1980. Birtles had scored 32 times in 87 appearances for Forest before his move to Old Trafford but would suffer a goal drought of Fernando Torres proportions in his first season at Old Trafford, with the centre forward failing to find the back of the net all season in 1980-81, going 25 games without scoring a goal. The Englishman would eventually open his account the following season, netting 11 times in 1981-82, but it was still a poor return given the enormity of the fee shelled out to Forest for his services - £27 million in today's money. For that reason Birtles was sold back to Nottingham after an ill-fated two season stay at the Theatre of Dreams where, to the frustration of United, he rediscovered his shooting boots, netting 38 times in 125 appearances during his second spell at The City Ground.