7. David Bellion
Mike Egerton/EMPICS SportGiven the immense time, effort and absolute hassle that went into landing David Bellion in 2003, you'd have thought Sir Alex Ferguson had instead re-signed David Beckham. After a hugely-average spell at the Stadium of Light with Sunderland which saw Bellion score the one goal, United, somewhat bizarrely, made a swoop for the Frenchman - but the Red Devils first had to wade through red tape to get the deal done. "Tapping up" claims were soon thrown around, with the Black Cats
complaining to the football league that they were owed compensation for the player, despite the fact Bellion had technically left on a Bosman. In the end an out of court settlement of £2 million was struck between the two sides but United needn't have bothered - Bellion scored four goals in 24 appearances and was farmed out on loan to West Ham and Nice before being sold to the French club after just three years.