There are certain transfers that managers look back on with relief, and pinpoint them as the turning point for when everything began to click for them. For Sir Alex Ferguson, it was the signing of Eric Cantona from rivals Leeds United in 1992. The Yorkshire club had won the league the previous season, while their Mancunian counterparts were languishing eighth in the table. The attempt at signing Southampton forward Alan Shearer had failed, while summer signing Dion Dublin had sustained a broken leg. Ferguson needed a catalyst, and what better way than to poach a Frenchman who was seemingly unsettled at their rivals? A £1.2 million deal was quickly thrashed out for the mercurial and hot-headed talisman, leading to widespread shock across the football stratosphere.
''I turned on the radio and there it was: total shock. Then there were all the media stories about his past and we were like: This blokes a total nutter, what are we doing? - Lee Sharpe, November 2012.
Of course, Cantona would elevate the club to almost invincible status, as they won four titles in four years, while Leeds slipped down the table. He has been heralded as one of the most important signings that Ferguson has ever made during his tenure as boss at Old Trafford, but there is no denying that it was a transfer which shook the Premiership.
Recent Journalism & New Media graduate. Insatiable thirst for all things football, and hopes to break into the field of sports journalism in the near future.
Have made a significantly insignificant playing career out of receiving several slaps around the head for not passing the ball.
