Elanga sent a message to United with his goal in their defeat to Nottingham Forest
It’s happened again.
The curse of ex-Manchester United players scoring against their former club. Danny Welbeck, Joshua King, Wilfred Zaha, Robin Van Persie (to name but a few) and now Antony Elanga in last night’s 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest.
But it is United’s own fault for letting these players go play elsewhere.
Here are five players (who are still currently playing) who have thrived since leaving Old Trafford.
Scott McTominay
There’s a reason why his former United teammates called him ‘The McTerminator’. He’s been putting in eight out of ten performances on a regular basis for Napoli this season, and has been fan favourite since he departed United for £25 million last summer.
Whilst his new team are chasing the Serie A title, United have struggled in the midfield and attacking areas, and currently sit in 13th.
They have found it difficult to find goals over the past two years and last season, McTominay provided United with valuable goals in important moments.
He finished the Premier League season with the same number of goals (from open play) as Garnacho (7) which was more than both Bruno Fernandes (6) and Marcus Rashford (5).
Not least to mention his national team heroics as Scotland’s biggest attacking threat, scoring the most goals for his country in their previous 3 UEFA competitions.
When used correctly ‘McSauce’ is a danger man and confident carrying the ball and breaking lines from midfield and into the final third, something which this United team has missed.
Álvaro Fernández Carreras
Another player which United have missed this season is left-back, Álvaro Fernández Carreras. Carreras was bought by United from in 2020 on a four-year deal, and despite failing to register a single first team appearance for United, he has been a regular in a Benfica side pushing for the Portuguese title.
Proving himself in games against the likes of Barcelona and Bayern Munich in the champions league, the 22-year-old would have been a useful player for Ruben Amorim as the club is regularly without Luke Shaw and splashed £25million on Patrick Dorgu in January.
Although United have a buy back clause, keeping hold of him would have been the more sensible thing to do, especially as selling a player with potential for £5 million to Benfica is peanuts in today’s prices.
Anthony Elanga
Nottingham Forest got an absolute bargain when they signed the Swedish winger for £15million in 2023.
Since joining Forest, Elanga has 27 goal contributions in the Premier League, but it is unlikely he would have reached these heights if he had stayed at United.
However, executives at the club should have been smarter at the time and used it as a loan opportunity, or at the very least, included a buy-back clause.
With Newcastle reportedly bidding £50million last summer to attract him to St James Park, letting him go at such a low price was almost criminal.
By comparison; Daniel James was sold to Leeds United for £25million in 2021, and goalkeeper Dean Henderson was sold to Crystal Palace for £20million.
This just goes to show how poor United’s outgoings have been, which was potentially worse than the negotiations for the players incoming.
Jonny Evans
A slightly strange one, as he is currently playing for Manchester United but for eight years of his career, Jonny Evans played his best football away from Old Trafford.
Evans had couple of injuries around 2014 which resulted in him missing around half a season of football. With Louis Van Gaal’s strict style of playing, Jonny Evans didn’t fit in the tactician’s plans and was moved onto West Bromwich Albion for £6-8 million in the summer of 2015.
Van Gaal only lasted one season after that, and was replaced by Jose Mourinho. Evans would go on to win an FA Cup at Leicester and it hurt United fans who would have loved to have seen a true Red winning trophies at Old Trafford. Instead, Maguire and Varane were eventually signed for big money as an attempt to fill that hole.
David De Gea
The age-old debate. Were United correct to get rid of David De Gea? As time has passed the answer is no (not for free anyway). David De Gea was a world class goalkeeper until in his later years with United, more, and more mistakes crept into his game.
Signed by Sir Alex Ferguson in 2011, it took the Spaniard a few years to adjust to English football and the physicality which came with it.
Andre Onana was his replacement in 2023, but he has made plenty of clear and obvious errors leading to goals. United’s Champions League campaign last season comes when Erik Ten Hag found his side exiting the competition early with Onana being at fault during many of those group stage games.
Distribution stats this season has shown that Amorim is instructing him to go long more often than not, with only Crystal Palace’s Dean Henderson punting more long balls forward for his respective Premier League side.
Fans are less than convinced about Onana’s consistency and with De Gea showing strong performances in Italy for Fiorentina, despite not playing for a year, it has left fans thinking whether they made the right decision to let the Spaniard leave.