Left-Midfield: Juan Sebastian Veron
There is a great deal that can be said about Juan Sebastian Veron's stint in the English Premier League, very little of it positive. He was very highly regarded for his time in Argentina and Italy, where he was the driving force behind Lazio's treble of 2000. This prompted Manchester United to break the bank to sign the talented Argentinian, with the transfer believed to be just shy of
£30 million. Veron is part of an exclusive list of players to be signed for the club for that kind of money, alongside Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand and Dimitar Berbatov. And it is fair to say he was the worst of those players. Frankly he is one of the worst United signings over £20 million, £10 million, or even £1 million. The slower, more methodically dull pace of the Italian League allowed Veron a considerable amount of space and time on the ball. This gave him opportunity to pick his passes and line-up his fearsome long-range efforts. In the Premier League, as soon as he saw the opposition goal, a defender had nipped the ball from under his feet and had launched the counter-attack. Veron was just too slow and rushed in the Premier League to be considered anywhere near as skilful or imposing as he did in Serie A. His first season aptly displayed this lack of speed, but the second season was considered his chance to show he had evolved and improved after a testing debut year. And he was able to show this by getting injured for the second-half of United's title winning 2002/03 season, just as he was getting some consistency. I guess if he was injured, at least he wouldn't be under-performing. He ended his career at United when he was transferred to Chelsea for £15 million, as they had only just come into the Abramovich money. Veron was essentially the equivalent of a golden-plated toilet seat bought by a lottery winner. United were probably astounded by the amount they recouped for a player that will go down as one of the most expensive flops in footballing history.