15 Worst Ever Man Utd Premier League Signings

by Andrew Pollard

1. Anderson

When the flamboyant Anderson arrived at Old Trafford from FC Porto on the same day as Nani back in 2009, the hopes of all at Old Trafford were ridiculously high. At the time, Anderson was one of the hottest prospects on the planet and Alex Ferguson€™s brother (and scout) Martin even said that the Brazilian was better than Wayne Rooney. Despite being initially signed as a more skillful replacement for Paul Scholes, some of Anderson€™s early appearances saw him put in some fantastic performances in a deeper, more controlling position, with him standing out against Arsenal and in particular in the way he bossed Steven Gerrard during a confrontation with Liverpool. What seemed to be the downfall of Anderson, though, were injuries and attitude. After some early injury lay-offs, the Brazilian struggled to get back to match fitness and would often appear massively unfit when selected in the United squad. In the case of Anderson, it seemed as if near-enough everyone who wasn€™t of an anti-United persuasion was desperate to see this massively promising, potential world-beater maximise his ability. Even his international career floundered, with him making his debut way back in 2007 yet he€™s still only managed to amass 8 caps to this day. In the end, despite arriving at Old Trafford for a fee in the region of £25 million, Anderson was given a free transfer in January of this year at the age of 26. He signed for Brazilian team Internacional but was substituted just 36 minutes into his debut and needed an oxygen mask due to his lack of fitness and the high altitude in which the game was being played. For a glimpse of the player that Anderson could€™ve been, here€™s the midfielder when he could be bothered to turn it on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLoZwjwJceo
Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.