If at first you don’t succeed… just sign the same player a year later?
Manchester United have history when it comes to revisiting a transfer target. They’re on the verge of signing Carlos Baleba from Brighton, a year after they first tried.
The fact it wasn’t a great season for Baleba on the pitch doesn’t seem to have bothered them too much. And so he’s the man that should complete their midfield rebuild, for a more palatable fee than it would have cost 12 months ago.
This is not the first time United have gone back for a previous year’s target, but how have the others before Baleba fared?
Ruud van Nistelrooy
When?
Signed in the summer of 2001 for a British-record £19m fee, which had been agreed with PSV that April.
Why the wait?
United originally agreed to sign Van Nistelrooy in 2000, but concerns over his fitness led to a dispute with PSV over whether there should be more medical tests.
The deal was cancelled – and United’s suspicions weren’t misplaced. Van Nistelrooy suffered an ACL injury the very next day.
Worth the wait?
An emphatic yes.
United still won the league by 10 points without Van Nistelrooy in the 2000-01 season.
Then the Dutchman bounced back in his debut season with United, scoring 36 goals. The next season was even better with 44 and a Premier League title.
Somehow it was the only one he won in his five years with United, but he bowed out with 150 goals from 219 games for the club before earning a move to Real Madrid.
Owen Hargreaves
When?
Signed from Bayern Munich in the summer of 2007, a year after playing for England at the World Cup.
Why the wait?
After the World Cup, Bayern were in no mood to lose Hargreaves and Chelsea-bound Michael Ballack in the same summer, despite United’s best efforts.
Hargreaves went public with his desire to join United, but he had to be patient.
“He can climb to the top of mount Everest and say whatever he wants but a contract with Bayern Munich is a contract that has to be respected,” he was reminded by Bayern boss Felix Magath.
“There is no chance of the deal taking place,” concluded Hargreaves’ agent Roman Grill by late August. “We have to accept there is no way Bayern will allow this transfer to happen.
“We did everything we could to grant Owen his wish to play for Manchester United but his only hope is that, if United remain interested in him, the deal could happen at a later date.”
United did remain interested in him and the deal did happen at a later date (after a final season with Bayern in which his gametime was limited by a broken leg).
Worth the wait?
Not according to Sir Alex.
“It turned out to be a disaster,” Ferguson opined in his autobiography. “Owen had no confidence in himself whatsoever.
“He didn’t show nearly enough determination to overcome his physical difficulties, for my liking. I saw him opt for the easy choice too often in terms of training. He was one of the most disappointing signings of my career.”
Shame, as Hargreaves had done well in his debut season when United won the Premier League and Champions League.
Injuries absolutely ruined him from that point on.
Dimitar Berbatov
When?
Signed in September 2008 after Tottenham accepted bids by both United and Manchester City – but there was only one destination on Berbatov’s mind.
Why the wait?
United enquired about Berbatov in 2007 after his debut season in the Premier League, when his 12 league goals had helped Spurs finish fifth.
These were the days when it was a Big Four and not a Big Six, though. And Tottenham’s hopes of breaking into the top four were precisely what put the transfer on hold.
Berbatov’s agent, Emil Danchev, explained: “They [Tottenham] let us believe that they want Dimitar to stay for another season because they have ambitions to finish among top four teams in the Premiership.”
And how did that go, you ask? Spurs finished, erm, 11th the following season. But Berbatov did his stock no harm with an improved 15-goal haul in the league.
Worth the wait?
Two Premier League titles and a Golden Boot would suggest so.
Berbatov wasn’t the kind of player that everyone loved, but scoring more than 50 goals for United has to command respect.
And that first touch? Few strikers possessed technique like Berbatov.
United made a hefty loss when selling him to Fulham after four years, but had got good value out of him in that time.
Ander Herrera
When?
Signed in June 2014 from Athletic Bilbao.
Why the wait?
Athletic rejected a £24m bid by United for Herrera in August 2013. Only when the midfielder’s £29m release clause was activated a year later was he Old Trafford bound.
Worth the wait?
Not quite as resoundingly as Van Nistelrooy, but yes.
United got five years of service out of Herrera, who made 189 appearances in that time.
Being the club’s player of the year in 2016-17, when they won the Europa League and EFL Cup, is proof of how important he was at his best.
Not afraid of doing the dirty work, he always put a shift in before his 2019 move to PSG.
Harry Maguire
When?
Signed in August 2019 as the world’s most expensive defender after an £80m bid to Leicester City.
Why the wait?
Maguire was all the rage in 2018 after starring for England at the World Cup, but Leicester drove a hard bargain and rejected two bids from United that summer.
It maybe didn’t help that the transfer window closed before the Premier League season started that year.
United’s interest persisted despite a change in the dugout, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer having replaced Jose Mourinho by the time they tried again for Maguire and got their man.
Worth the wait?
Erm… kind of?
The size of the transfer fee didn’t help how Maguire was judged, but he played well enough at first.
His fortunes took a turn for the worse after becoming captain, but he’s done just fine since being relieved of that duty and is still a United player to this day.
Fair play to him.
Jadon Sancho
When?
Signed in July 2021 from Borussia Dortmund.
Why the wait?
United’s attempt to sign Sancho in the summer of 2020 was one of that year’s biggest transfer sagas.
They made a bid of up to £91.3m (€100m) but were knocked back by Dortmund, who had already set them an unofficial deadline that was missed.
United came back in the following summer and struck a deal at £73m, which was actually the same value of their 2020 offer without add-ons.
Worth the wait?
You’ve got to be kidding.
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