Depay, Sanchez, Di Maria: Man Utd's worst XI of the 21st century has been named | OneFootball

Manchester United fans are buzzing about the prospect of a bountiful summer transfer window.

Man Utd's summer spending

With Jadon Sancho having now sealed his move to Old Trafford as well as heavy links to Raphael Varane, you can understand why fans might be feeling a little giddy.

However, some of the more level-headed supporters of the Red Devils will be acutely aware that big names don't always make the desired impact when they move to the 'Theatre of Dreams'.

Sadly, there have been countless examples over the last 21 years where arguably the biggest club in the world have splashed the cash and gotten very little back for their investment in return.

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Man Utd's transfer flops

While everyone sincerely hopes that won't be the case ahead of the 2021/22 campaign, there are certainly some standout examples that show what can go wrong for incoming United players.

And it's a fascinating topic that has been touched upon by The Sun this week, collaborating with United End's Tom McDermott to draw up: 'Man Utd’s worst XI of 21st century.'

It really does make for an intriguing line-up that includes some of the biggest names in world football over the last few years as well as some infamous collaborations that flopped from the start.

'Man Utd's worst XI of the 21st century'

Be sure to check out the original article for McDermott's full justifications, but you can check out the complete XI down below with a key line that summed up why each player flopped with United.

GK: Anders Lindegaard

Key line: "On reflection, Lindegaard wasn’t a bad ‘keeper but lacked the composure and experience to hold down the number one jersey on a permanent basis."

DF: Alexander Buttner

Key line: "After Ferguson’s retirement though, he’s drifted to some of the lesser known teams in the football world."

DF: Marcos Rojo

DF: Guillermo Varela

Key line: "Varela was signed after impressing both with his home club, Penarol, and in the South American youth championships. In hindsight it was probably a step he couldn’t handle."

MF: Bebe

MF: Morgan Schneiderlin

Key line: "Schneiderlin played over 30 times for United, but I can’t remember one single appearance."

MF: Kleberson

MF: Wilfried Zaha

Key line: "Moyes was left to pick up the pieces, but Zaha wasn’t the polished attacker he is today."

FW: Memphis Depay

Key line: "Depay has rebuilt his career well but lacked the maturity at United to establish himself properly."

FW: Angel Di Maria

Key line: "Off-field problems didn’t help, but Di Maria and United were just never meant to be."

FW: Alexis Sanchez

Key line: "What a disaster. Similar to Di Maria in that you got the impression that he never really wanted to be at the club."

An XI of Man Utd strugglers

Based on pure footballing ability, there's actually good reason to think this starting XI would do some serious damage on the pitch, but there's no denying that they never made the grade with United.

Besides, if you played them all together in the form of their deepest United nadir then you'd be hard-pressed to argue that they'd finish anywhere near the top half of the Premier League.

So, it certainly goes to show that getting a big-money move to Old Trafford is no guarantee of success and we'll just have to hope that Sancho and any other arrivals are sure to buck the trend.

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Kobe Tong

Interested in: Arsenal, Yeovil Town, Boxing, Athletics

The world's ninth-fastest journalist. Interviewed Sir Mo Farah, Dina Asher-Smith, Eliud Kipchoge and Katarina Johnson-Thompson. Author of such literary classics as 'Ranking every Premier League manager by how good they'd be on a night out'.