How Have Man United’s Biggest-Money Signings Performed?

It is no exaggeration to say that Manchester United had an absolutely appalling 2024/25 campaign. Okay, they made it to the final of the Europa League… but they lost to Spurs: the side that finished 17th in the Premier League! And the Red Devils were almost as bad as the north London side domestically, with Ruben Amorim’s ending the season in 15th place with a very meagre total of just 42 points on the board.

Although Amorim kept his job, he knows he’ll be on borrowed time if he does start the new season positively. He also knows he needs some better players to work with. The first major signing of the summer has been Matheus Cunha for a fee of £62.5m from Wolverhampton Wanderers (who finished the season a place below United in the table, on goal difference). That fee makes him the eighth-biggest signing in Man United’s history and in this article we’ll assess whether the other big-money moves paid off for the club.

Manchester United’s Top 10 Most Expensive Signings

Here are the top 10 signings Man United have made (including Cunha), in terms of the cash paid for them. Note that, for comparison purposes, all the transfer fees are given in euros, and they may not be 100% exact, depending on add-ons, but they are based on the information given by the clubs in question.

Of the above players, other than Cunha, the following are still at Manchester United: Antony (though he’s been transfer-listed), Harry Maguire, Jadon Sancho (also on the transfer list), Rasmus Højlund (another probably on the way out), Casemiro, and Mason Mount.

Who Have Been The Big Money Hits at United?

On first glance, it has to be said that none of the top 10 signings have really become club legends. Maguire is perhaps closest to that status, but he’s certainly not revered in the same way as someone like Rio Ferdinand (who was only the 19th biggest signing – though would possibly top the list if adjusted for inflation). But let’s take a closer look at the stats achieved by the top five in the above list.

Paul Pogba – 2016/17 to 2021/22

But for the 2018/19 campaign, when Pogba scored 16 goals in 47 games, the Frenchman didn’t really perform consistently well for Man United. A combination of injuries and an apparent lack of motivation at times meant Pogba would drift in and out of seasons and sometimes individual games. Occasionally he’d show a moment of magic, but those moments tended to be few and far between, certainly towards the end of his time at the club: he scored only eight goals across his last three seasons at Old Trafford.

Antony – 2022/23 to Present

Antony is yet another big-money signing who has frankly failed to deliver the goods for Man United. Despite scoring 25 goals in 82 games for Ajax prior to coming to Manchester, he’s managed just 12 in almost 100 games for United. He’s also been accused of showboating on occasion and being disrespectful to fans… which isn’t a good look when you’re sporting a strike rate of less than 13%. He has contributed few assists and rarely looked anything like value for money, and most United fans will be glad to see the back of him, despite his improved showings on loan at Real Betis.

Harry Maguire – 2019/20 to Present

For much of Maguire’s Man United career, he’s been viewed as a steady but relatively immobile defender who is very good without being exceptional. He’s tended to perform better in an England shirt during this time, but he has popped up with plenty of useful goals for the Red Devils, including the extra-time winner in the ludicrous 5-4 win over Lyon in the 2024/25 Europa League quarter-final.

Now 32 years of age, he could be hard-pushed to hold down his place in the starting XI, but it appears he’s determined to at least try, and Amorim’s preference for three at the back will certainly help his cause.

Jordan Sancho– 2021/22 to Present

To say things haven’t gone to plan for Sancho at Manchester United is a massive understatement. After shining for Borussia Dortmund, the young star appeared to have the world at his feet, but things just didn’t click at Old Trafford. Not only has he been loaned out (to his former club Dortmund and to Chelsea), but he has also suffered the indignity of Chelsea paying a fee of £5m not to sign him.

At the time of writing, it seems unlikely he’ll be given the chance to rebuild his stuttering career at Man United and he’s been linked with a move back to Germany or perhaps even to Saudi Arabia, though there is nothing confirmed as yet. Based on the initial outlay, Sancho has to go down as one of United’s biggest-ever flops.

Romelu Lukaku – 2017/18 to 2018/19

There’s no doubt Lukaku has been a fantastic player at times during his career, not least when banging in 30 or more goals for two consecutive seasons for Inter Milan. He wasn’t bad at United, to be fair, scoring 27 times in his first season for the club (16 in 34 Premier League games). But his second campaign was a little disappointing by the standards he’d set, with just 15 goals from 45 games, his lowest total since the 2013/14 season (when at Chelsea).

There was always the sense that he wasn’t quite fulfilling his potential at Old Trafford, and he appeared to possess far more energy and guile when playing for Belgium. He wasn’t exactly a flop, but for the money spent on him, he didn’t really deliver the goods either.

All of which is pretty good news for new-boy Cunha. The bar is set very low and he really won’t need to do all that much to go down as a great signing – at least relatively speaking!