10 Shocking Man Utd Departures That Nobody Expected

9. Gerard Pique

It€™s never a shock when a player is bundled out of Manchester United after making 12 league appearances for the first-team in four seasons, but what did raise an eyebrow or two was his destination. The centre-back had been snapped up from Barcelona in the summer of 2004 as a fresh-faced 17 year old, but after four years of struggling to make an impact in England, it looked like Gerard Pique would vanish into Spanish mid-table obscurity for the remainder of his career. Instead, he has since won four La Liga titles, six domestic trophies, two Champions League, a World Cup and a European Championship since his Old Trafford exit in May 2008. It€™s not a rarity for Spanish clubs to exercise their buy-back clauses, or for Barcelona in particular to make plays to re-sign old boys, but the difference between Pique and the likes of Cesc Fabregas and Jordi Alba was that the centre-back was not established in any way. He had looked muddled, confused and out of sorts in England and a return to Barcelona looked like a fantasy. However, the £5 million bid was lodged, the Mancunian side gleefully accepted, and Pique began making orders for a larger bedside drawer to keep his medals.