Manchester United, revisiting summer 2012: Transfer successes and fails
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – AUGUST 17: Robin van Persie (L) and Manager Sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United pose with a Manchester United shirt after van Persie signed a four year contract with the club at Old Trafford on August 17, 2012 in Manchester, England. (Photo by John Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images)
The summer of 2012 was the beginning of Sir Alex Ferguson’s last year in charge of Manchester United. Here’s how his four signings that summer are judged.
Everyone assumed the end was near for Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United in 2012 as much as fans refused to conceptualize the thought that he may not be chomping on gum up and down the Old Trafford touch-line.
It was to be that 2012-13 would be his last season in charge of the club, something that was not confirmed nor made public until after the season.
The season ended with a familiar sight: Manchester United lifting the Premier League trophy. That was the only way he’d ever go out.
Nearly a year before that, the summer of 2012, the finishing touches were put on the squad that would go on and lift the trophy. Ferguson made a few signings, looking for quality over quantity. He tried to peer to the future with a pair of signings as well as the here and now for the other two.
How’d they work out? Were they successes based on their price tag and output for the club?
In a generalization, not really. But they helped deliver Ferguson one last title and that’s all that matters.
Without the signings, well one signing really, it’s a big question if they would have won it or not.
It’s still better than the ignominious summers that David Moyes and Louis van Gaal would have after him, of course.
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 15: Nick Powell of Manchester United celebrates scoring their fourth goal during the Barclays Premier League match between Manchester United and Wigan Athletic at Old Trafford on September 15, 2012 in Manchester, England. (Photo by John Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images)
Nick Powell /// £4million /// Failure
Powell was a resounding failure at Manchester United, simple as.
The midfielder signed from Crewe Alexandra as a young player with huge potential. Powell had represented England at the youth levels and got his debut with Crewe when he was just 16.
Manchester United loaned him out a few times, because that was always the plan, but he never made an impact away from the club. Not enough to warrant playing time or a new deal, of course, and Powell was released this summer.
More from Playing for 90
Powell made just three appearances for Manchester United, though he did score once. Decent return rate for a midfielder? Small sample size. He stayed at United that first season and largely played in the reserves.
In the car wash of loan deals that’d follow three successive years, Wigan were up first in 2013/14. It was successful from the outside looking in as he made 42 appearances in all competitions, scoring 12 goals.
The next season, he was upgraded to Leicester City. He made just a treble of appearances for the Foxes before seeing his loan cut early due to a lack of commitment in training.
Powell would get a chance with Hull City in February 2016, but he’d just make five appearances before the season ended before being released by Manchester United.
Wigan signed him on a free deal and he’s made four appearances thus far this season, scoring one goal. He’s still just 22 years old.
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – MAY 06: Alexander Buttner of Manchester United in action during the Barclays Premier League match between Manchester United and Hull City at Old Trafford on May 6, 2014 in Manchester, England. (Photo by John Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images)
Alex Buttner /// £4million /// Failure
Buttner’s Manchester United career peaked early. It happened in his Premier League debut when he picked up the man of the match award for scoring and assisting in a 4-0 win over Wigan. That’s about it for Buttner.
The move seemed peculiar when it happened, he didn’t seem to be United quality before coming over from Vitesse in 2012.
Manchester United still had Patrice Evra at the club who wasn’t anywhere near ceding his position to anyone, let alone Buttner. Evra played the other 34 matches that Buttner didn’t start in the league that title-winning season.
Thirteen Premier League appearances later parsed over two seasons, the Alex Buttner Experience at Manchester United was done as he moved to Dynamo Moscow. United may turn a slight profit if add-ons are triggered which would take his transfer to £5.6million.
Since moving to Dynamo, Buttner has enjoyed more regular playing time though he was loaned out for this season to Anderlecht. At the very least, he should certainly be on the team sheet during every match at his new loan club.
LANDOVER, MD – JULY 29: Shinji Kagawa
Shinji Kagawa /// £17million /// Failure
The first Japanese player to win a Premier League medal, the first Japanese player to play for Manchester United and the first Asian player to score a Premier League hat-trick, proceedings were moving along relatively smoothly in his first season at United after a £17million move from Borussia Dortmund.
A knee injury would keep him away from the first team for a couple of months, but he returned seamlessly in 2012-13. He would make just 20 league appearances but he scored 6 goals, a good return for a midfielder.
But then the following season when Moyes took charge, Kagawa’s Manchester United career went south quick. That season he made just 18 league appearances and failed to score a goal. It was part of United’s anemic, clunky season in attack, a far cry from the norms under Ferguson.
Kagawa returned to Dortmund after that season, where he’s recovered form but still hasn’t reached the heights he hit in his first Dortmund stint. At 27 years old, he still has time to recapture his top gear.
For those numbers, his United move has got to be seen as a failure. Staying just two years and not having an integral impact on the title in his first year isn’t enough. When he was penning his contract, not many would have foreseen just a two-year stint in Manchester. He was young and proven at the highest European level.
Manchester United’s Dutch striker Robin van Persie celebrates scoring the opening goal during the English Premier League football match between Manchester United and Leicester City at Old Trafford in Manchester, northwest England, on January 31, 2015. AFP PHOTO / PAUL ELLIS
RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or live services. Online in-match use limited to 45 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications (Photo credit should read PAUL ELLIS/AFP/Getty Images)
Robin Van Persie /// £24million /// Success
In a move that simultaneously made United even stronger of an attacking juggernaut while neutering Arsenal’s attack, Van Persie was as strong a reason as any player in the team why United won the title in Ferguson’s last season in charge.
Van Persie scored 26 goals while appearing in all 38 league games, leading the Premier League in goals.
The striker wore the no. 20 at United because with the more illustrious numbers already occupied, assistant coach Rene Meulensteen convinced the striker that he’d help push United to their 20th league title. And he was right.
Van Persie was unplayable that first season in Manchester, scoring goal after goal. The next two seasons had the dark cloud of injury hanging over them and he barely cracked double-digit goal tallies in both, but that’s beside the point. He was brought in to deliver his own first title as well as United’s 20th and he did both. That’s worth £24million every time.
As he was nearing his 32nd birthday when he moved from United to Fenerbahce last summer, he was only purchased for a fraction of the fee cost to bring him to Manchester. Fenerbahce had to dole out just under £4million for his services.
Van Persie, like Kagawa, got on much better with Ferguson than Moyes or Van Gaal, especially the latter. There seemed to always be negative headlines on the two and the move away from Old Trafford made perfect sense last summer.
This article originally appeared on 
