Before departing Manchester United at the end of last season, Ralf Rangnick called for a major overhaul of the squad, and his successor agreed with a number of big-name players following the Austrian out the door.
What was a hugely busy summer turned out to be a largely successful one with Casemiro, Lisandro Martinez, Christian Eriksen and Antony all playing big parts in the club’s best season in years.
Have things gone as well for those that left? Let’s take a took…
Edinson Cavani
Cavani left United on a free transfer at the end of last season and signed for Valencia. He’s done okay there but hasn’t lived up to the lofty standards he’s set for himself over the years, getting seven goals in 17 matches.
To be fair to him though, nobody in that side has done particularly well this season with the club currently second bottom of the league. If they get relegated, the striker will almost definitely leave, and Real Madrid are said to be interested in him. A return to South American club football appears more likely, though.
Jesse Lingard
It may have been a free transfer, but Nottingham Forest forked out to sign Lingard in the summer, making him one of their highest-paid players. He has two goals and two assists in the League Cup but hasn’t really justified those wages on the whole, failing to impress in the Premier League.
Lingard’s one-year contract at the City Ground is up in the summer. It’ll be interesting to see what’s next.
Juan Mata
One of the nicest blokes in football decided to grace Turkey with his presence following his contract expiration, joining Galatasaray on a one-year deal. The Spaniard hasn’t played a huge amount since then but has had some good moments, bagging a brace in the club’s third game of 2023.
Galatasaray sit top of the Turkish Super Lig and the Spaniard may soon be claiming the first league title of his entire career to date.
Nemanja Matic
Reuniting with former manager Jose Mourinho, Matic has proved to be a decent signing for Roma, starting all but one Europa League match and half of their Serie A games.
Paul Pogba
Pogba also headed to Italy, rejoining Juventus, but his move hasn’t gone nearly as well as his former midfielder partner’s, with the Frenchman picking up a knee injury in July that ruled him for the first half of the season and meant barmy witchcraft scandals were the only thing he was in the news for.
The 29-year-old made his long-awaited return at the end of February and needs to get up to speed quickly with the club set to miss out on European football after getting a 15-point penalty.
Andreas Pereira
Pereira has done well at Fulham, getting three goals and six assists in 30 games for Marco Silva’s high-flying Cottagers.
It’s nice to see the Brazilian thriving in the Premier League after spending so long on the periphery at Old Trafford.
Tahith Chong
After he spent last season on loan at the club, Birmingham decided to sign Chong permanently, and he’s played 31 times since then, getting three goals and four assists in the Championship.
James Garner
United fans were far from pleased when the club allowed the highly-rated Garner to leave for Everton for just under £9million, but it’s not yet clear whether they were right to be angry.
The 21-year-old has made just seven appearances for the relegation-battling Toffees, with a back injury keeping him out of action for much of the campaign.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll be well aware that Ronaldo threw his toys out of the pram after being benched by Erik ten Hag in the first half of the season, so much so that United mutually agreed to terminate his contract at the end of 2022.
He publicly declared that he intended to leave for another of Europe’s biggest clubs, but after discovering that none of them wanted him, ended up in Saudi Arabia, where he’s bagged a modest eight goals in six games.
However, not to rain on his and Piers Morgan’s parade, but some of the goalkeepers he’s come up against have been dodgier than us when we’ve had a go between the sticks on FIFA, so maybe take that record with a pinch of salt.
Source: planetfootball.com
