47. David Beckham

Signed from: Youth team
Debut: 1-1 draw vs Brighton and Hove Albion (as sub, League Cup tie), September 23rd 1992
League Record: 237 games (+28 as sub), 62 goals
Sold to: Real Madrid (£25,000,000), July 2003

I have a feeling a lot of people would be surprised at how early he made his debut – it wasn’t for another three years that he cracked the first team after Andrei Kanchelskis was sent packing.

At first, he wasn’t the most exciting prospect of his year group. I remember seeing pictures that suggested if he stepped foot on Old Trafford on a gusty night, he’d get blown away and end up in the canal. Not that he had much chance of getting a game in the first place, as Andrei Kanchelskis had the right wing sewn up but when the Ukrainian got injured at the end of 94/95, young David (who had gone through a short spell on loan at Preston to get some pitch time) made a couple of showings and was obviously impressive enough to take the now-available right wing spot the following season.

Though he missed out on making the 1996 England Euro Championship squad, the first game of the subsequent season saw that his star was on a rapid upward trajectory. Against Wimbledon, he chipped their keeper from inside his own half – goal of the season right away, and setting up his reputation for spectacular long-range goals.

Around this time was the fateful day Victoria Adams rocked up at Old Trafford to do the half-time prize draw. She met young David, setting him down a path where he became far better known to the world as a “celebrity” than a footballer. He managed to keep the balance throughout most the late 90, but in the end the media attention seemed to become too much. Newspaper reports would be about his haircut and clothing rather than his footballing exploits.

Eventually, he fell out with Fergie, not helped by being hit by a boot kicked by the boss in a moment of fury, at was even dropped from the team for a spell in 2002/03. We sold him off to Real Madrid, where he did OK before electing to waste the rest of his career hacking around the US league, intercut with two loan spells at Milan. One of these saw him come up against us in a Champions League tie, where he received a deserved warm reception.

In the final reckoning, he should have spent more time at United. And yet, on the other hand, the guy who took his #7 jersey would end up doing a pretty good job in replacing him...