5. Wes Brown
Wes Brown came up through the United ranks as a promising centre-back, but a defender more than cable of holding his own at right-back. His debut season was that of Uniteds historic treble win, some could maybe have even seen that as a good omen for a young career, but sadly the next season he was struck down but what would prove to be an all-too-common issue in his playing career: injury. This first injury ruled him out for an entire season, but he then went on to roar his way back into the United back four in the 2001-2002 season. His form was so good; it even prompted Sir Alex to call him the most talented defender in the Man Utd squad, perhaps not hard as the squad at the time lacked any world class talent in the centre-back department ever since the departure of Jaap Stam after his row with Ferguson. Nonetheless this impressive form continued into the next season for Brown, and with two strong seasons under his built; what would happen to the (at the time) one club man? He would find himself struck down by injury yet again. This injury ruled him out of the running for half of the 2003/2004, but he yet again came back and continually impressed the Old Trafford faithful with a strong performance in the FA Cup against fierce rivals of specific note. Moving forward a few years and we saw promising signs of a partnership emerging between Rio and Brown, with the latter continually struggling from injury. January 2006 marked the arrival of Nemanja Vidic who, despite a shaky start to his Red Devils career, would soon establish himself as part of the first-choice centre partnership along with Rio, but also as one of the star defenders in Europe. This led to Wes Brown being promoted to first choice right-back and when he played alongside the centre-backs, with Patrice Evra at left-back and with the ever-reliable Van Der Sar behind them, there was very few better defences in Europe. However the presence in the United back four never lasted as long as it should have for Wes Brown, with injury never far from the players career. That coupled with the emergence of Rafael at right back, led to an increase in bench-warming for Brown, before enough was enough and he left for Sunderland in July 2011, where sadly his injury problems seemed to have followed him.