10 Great Rookie Seasons From Man Utd Players

1. Dwight Yorke - 1998-99

Manchester United broke their personal transfer fee record twice in the summer of 1998. Jaap Stam joined for £10m and the second occasion brought Dwight Yorke from Aston Villa to Old Trafford for £12.8million. The Trinidadian forward made his debut in the Upton Park stalemate with West Ham, but he soon got on the scoresheet for the Reds with two at home to Charlton two weeks later in his second match for the club. In October€™s 3-0 win away at Southampton, Yorke was finally paired up with Andy Cole up front, and the rewards were very promising. In the following seven games United averaged 3.7 goals a game, with Yorke and Cole getting 11 of those 26 goals. It was clear from a European night out in Barcelona which included sublime teamwork from the pairing in a 3-3 draw that United were a big team in Europe and that Yorke€™s transfer fee was money well spent. Yorke€™s best days in a Manchester United shirt came during the first half of 1999, as he netted a hat-trick in January in a 6-2 win over Leicester whilst contributing two in a record-breaking 8-1 away win over Nottingham Forest. Arguably the most important, though, were the only two goals in a Champions League quarter final win at home to Inter Milan. Two goals in an FA Cup quarter final replay against Chelsea helped United over the line at Stamford Bridge in a similar 2-0 display. This match included one of the better United goals in the Treble winning season, a thirty-yard lob over Ed de Goey. A goal in the 3-2 win over Juventus in Turin in the Champions League semi-final helped United qualify for only their second ever European Cup final as they capped off a wonderful season with three wins in ten days which produced the Treble. Which other incredible debut seasons at United do you think deserve to be on this list? Share your thoughts below in the comments thread.