Alex Ferguson's Five Best Buys

The scotsman's illustrious career at United has seen him raise superstar players from the United youth system, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs being prime examples, but Sir Alex also had a great eye for buying the best players in the transfer market, but what were his best buys?

1. Eric Cantona - £1.2 million from Leeds United

Cantona is often viewed as United's greatest player, his class on the ball his unbelievable goals and his character was testament to the dominance of Manchester United in the 90's. Unfortunately for Cantona he never made it internationally due to occupying the same position as the great Zinedene Zidane, but his true talent showed in the Premier League and he will be forever remembered as one of the finest players to grace the turf of the Premiership.




2. Cristiano Ronaldo - £12.24 million from Sporting CP

Ronaldo signed as an almost unknown player back in 2003, and yet Sir Alex saw his talent and transformed him into one of the worlds greatest ever players. Breathtaking goals against Portsmouth and Porto, and unbelievable skill saw him become a United favourite, and he regularly broke the 20 goal barrier for United even though he did not play as the out and out striker. His £80 million move to Real Madird, was testament to Ronaldo's greatness, and just how good Fergies eye is to spot true talent in the world of football.


3. Roy Keane - £3.75 million from Nottingham Forest

At the time Roy Keane's transfer was a British record and some saw it as a risk from Ferguson. Roy Keane however was no risk and he fashioned himself into one of the finest midfielders the world has ever seen. His heroics against Juventus in 1999 was seen as one of the finest ever performances in a United shirt, and thus cemented himself as one of the 3 finest holding midfielders the world has ever seen (The other two being Makelele and Vieira), a Manchester United legend and a position they have never completely filled since.


4. Ruud Van Nistelrooy - £19 million from PSV Eindhoven

Never has there been a more deadly finisher in the Premier League. His price tag suggested he had talent but he more than payed back his transfer. Never did anything spectacular, but his goals to game ratio more than speaks for itself at United. Never missed a penalty, was always in the right place at the right time and never missed an opportunity that came his way. A true United legend and his regular breaking of the 20 goal barrier helped United on there way to several titles in the early 2000's.


  5. Peter Schmeichel - £530,000 from Brondby


Ferguson described his purchase of Schmeichel as 'the bargain of the century' and he was certainly not wrong. Possibly the finest goalkeeper the English game has ever seen, and never has a keeper lead there back line quite like Schmeichel. He made 292 appearances under Ferguson, and was such a consistent performer. One of Uniteds true greats and again Ferguson showed his eye for buying unknown talent.





Other great purchases by Ferguson: Wayne Rooney, Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole, Andrei Kanchelskis and Nemanja Vidic.