41. Andrei Kanchelskis

Signed from: Shakhytor Donetsk (£650,000), March 1991
Debut: 0-3 loss vs Crystal Palace, May 11th 1991
League Record: 96 games (+27 as sub), 28 goals
Sold to: Everton (£5,000,000), August 1995

The first signing from overseas on our list, and a hark back to different times. Nowadays, when we sign a player, we can look on youtube and usually see a showreel of their best moments. Back in 1991, when we signed some fellow from the Ukraine, I would wager the vast majority of United fans were completely in the dark about him.

In fact, I think the first I knew of him was playing Manchester United: Europe where he appeared in our squad list, only with his first name spelt "Andrej". His actual debut passed me by - Fergie stuck on most our reserves in order to keep the first team fresh for the awaiting Cup Winners Cup final. He must have made a good impression, however, as he was signed up and we had our first proper right-winger since Gordon Strachan had been sold off two years prior.

While Strachan was a winger who dribbled, jinxed and relied on his guile, Andrei Kanchelskis pretty much relied on his main asset: a sprinters pace. Not many, if any, caught Andrei when he got going, and unlike the similarly rapid Franz Carr at Nottingham Forest, he could actually put in a decent cross when he finally ran out of turf to run across.

If we had won the league in 1992, he would have played a big part in it when he scored the winning goal (a superb volley) at Old Trafford against Southampton that Spring. The wheels were wobbling and his goal slightly eased worried minds. Alas, it would be for nothing.

The next season, Kanchelskis struggled for a starting place when Lee Sharpe regained fitness to take the left wing spot with Ryan Giggs shifting over to the right: nearly half his appearances that campaign came from the bench, though he still managed to score some vital goals at QPR and Norwich, the latter in a memorable game where we put the Canaries (our title rivals at that time) firmly in their place.

1993/94 saw him established in the team, however, and he played a big part in our first double winning season. With him and Giggs as our wing options, opposition teams may never have faced two different forms of devastation. Kanchelskis was also one player who profited regularly from the huge throw-outs from our goalkeeper at the time (who'll be our next entry). A goal at QPR that season saw the ball launched from our box to the half-way line, where Kanchelskis carried it the rest of the way and slotted it away. An assist from the 'keeper didn't seem so far fetched back then.

The next season he got better, adding goalscoring to his skillset. The highlight of his time with us came in 1994/95, when he put away a hat-trick in a 5-0 win over Manchester City that helped cure the pain of the 5-1 hammering they gave us in 1989. We could do with another Andrei-esque perfomance in the near future...

But what should have been the next step in Kanchelskis' rise in United's Hall of Fame turned out to be one of our last memories of him. By the end of the season, his relationship with Ferguson had turned very sour - rumours of agents pushing for a move to get a big payday would later do the rounds - and he was moved on to Everton that summer, not long after they'd beat us in the FA Cup final.

Early in his time there, he suffered a serious injury inflicted in a game against, inevitably, us. Once fit again, he managed to score plenty of goals but was soon on his way out, beginning a series of moving to various clubs (including a short spell at Man City) without ever really settling again.

Sadly, a story of talent perhaps very badly advised. That said, the guy who took his place on the right wing didn't turn out too bad...