There have been many players in Manchester United who have come and there are some who left the club at an early stage. Among these players are those who have turned out to be one of the brightest football talents on earth after departing Old Trafford.
United, popularly known for upbringing their talents to become one of the best in the world have made some sort of mistake by letting them all go. As it turned out, these players turned out to be one of the finest footballers of their generation. Though some give the credit to United for their successful careers, fans would have never wanted them to leave. After winning some big titles with their respective clubs, I decide to take a look at their life after Manchester United.
Gerard Pique, Paul Pogba and Diego Forlan are some of the people who left United at an early stage and later became the top footballers at a time. Starting with Diego Forlan, the Uruguayan stalwart had an impressive stint at Spain with Atletico Madrid. Having signed the Madrid side as a replacement for departed captain Fernando Torres who went to Liverpool, he helped them qualify to Champions League after a decade long break from playing in the elite European competition. He ended his first season in Madrid with 23 goals and formed a potent partnership with fellow South America; Argentinian striker Sergio Agüero.
His second season with the Los Rojiblancos was a memorable one as Atletico won the La Liga Pichichi Trophy award. He ended the 2008–09 season with a very impressive 32 goals in 33 matches which earned him the European Golden Boot for a 2nd time. The following season didn’t have a bright start for the forward as Atletico had their worst start since 2000; the year they were relegated. After appointing new manager Quique Flores, Forlán flourished in the second half of the season, as Atlético reached the finals of both the Europa League and Copa del Rey. On 14 February 2010, Forlán scored the first goal as Atlético beat FC Barcelona 2–1 at the Vicente Calderón, inflicting the eventual Champions only league defeat of the season. On 22 April 2010, Forlán scored the only goal of the game in Atlético’s Europa League semi-final first leg at home to Liverpool. A week later, Liverpool took the tie to extra time before taking a 2–1 aggregate lead. Forlán then scored again to make it 2–2 on aggregate, giving Atlético the away goal they needed to reach the final, in which they played against Fulham at Volksparkstadion, Hamburg, on 12 May. Forlán scored twice against Fulham in the final, in a 2–1 win and was awarded man of the match. He ended the season with a total of 28 goals, including six in Atlético’s successful Europa League campaign.
Also the same year, Forlán was awarded the Golden Ball in 2010 FIFA World Cup as the tournament’s best player. He was also picked for the team of the tournament, and was the joint top scorer at the World Cup with 5 goals. His goal against Germany was named as the Goal of the Tournament.
He later went to Inter Milan but had an unsuccessful time there and is now with the Japanese side Cerezo Osaka.
The next big name to have left United at a young age was Spanish international Gerard pique, who had an outstanding career with the Catalan giants Barcelona. After winning the Campions League with United in 2008, he wanted to go back to Spain and joined his boyhood club Barcelona for fee worth 5 million pounds. On his presentation at the Camp Nou he stated “I am very happy to be back, I didn’t think I would be here again but this is very good for me. Manchester United is a great club and I enjoyed winning things. To play with world class players has helped me and now I want to continue this at Barça.”
He had scored the 6th goal in 6-2 hammering of rivals Real Madrid at the ‘El Classico’ in 2009. On 13 May 2009, he picked up the first trophy of his Barcelona career as he helped his club to a 4–1 victory over Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey Final. Three days later, Barcelona clinched the league title after Real Madrid lost 3–2 to Villarreal, with two games left in the season. On 27 May 2009, Piqué played against his former club Manchester United in the 2009 Champions League Final, which Barcelona won 2–0, completing an historic treble. Pique was one of the very few players to have won the Champions League two times in a row with two different teams.
A year later he won the World Cup with Spain in 2010, where his partnership with Puyol saw Spain concede only twice in seven World Cup matches and keep four consecutive clean sheets in the knockout stage. On 28 May 2011, Piqué played in his second Champions League Final. Barça defeated Manchester United 3–1 at Wembley Stadium to lift the European Cup for the second time in three seasons. On 1 May 2013, Piqué scored an own goal for Bayern Munich in Camp Nou which made score 2–0 to Bayern. Later, Bayern went on to win 3–0 and 7–0 on aggregate.
On 20 May 2014, Piqué signed a contract extension with Barcelona, keeping him at the club until 2019. On 6 June 2015, Piqué started for Barça in the 2015 UEFA Champions League Final, as the club won its fifth European Cup by beating Juventus at Berlin’s Olympiastadion. This made Barcelona the first club in history to win the treble of domestic league, domestic cup and European Cup twice. Piqué, Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi, Pedro, Sergio Busquets and Dani Alves are the only players to have been a part of both Treble-winning teams. He was linked with a move back to Old Trafford last summer which didn’t look to happen as he spent another successful year in Spain.
Followed by Pique is the French international Paul Pogba. One of the hottest footballers right now, has a lot of value and is considered as one of the best center midfielders. He’s being targeted by Manchester City and his move looks potential as they’re ready to pay 80 million pounds to sign him. Leaving for Italian giants Juventus, Pogba’d had a bright path ahead of him as he won 4 straight league titles with the Turin side Juventus had also won the double this year and were hoping to make a treble as they reached the Champions League finals by beating Real Madrid in the semifinals. Also he played the 2015 Champions League finals against Barcelona in Berlin where the Catalan side cruised away to lift the title with a 3-1 win. He has not won many titles yet as he’s still a growing player and has a lot of potential ahead.
So, maybe there were some mistakes made by Manchester United that turned to be hefty. As these players had the brightest time of their careers after leaving the Red Devils.
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