Glory, glory Man United: Top 5 players in Manchester United history

Although they have endured some struggles compared to what they have been used to since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United are unquestionably one of, if not the biggest, team in England and maybe in the world. They have a global reach that only a select number of other clubs possess.

Manchester United have won 20 top-flight titles in England over their 122-year history under their current name, with no other team able to boast such a number. 13 League Cups, six FA Cups and three Champions League honors only bolster what is an already impressive trophy haul.

It was under Ferguson that the Red Devils enjoyed their latest golden era, but that is not to say the Scot’s tenure was their only period of fortune, with former manager Sir Matt Busby being on a similar pedestal to Ferguson in terms of his impact on the club.

A constant in the English top flight for decades, Man United have understandably had some of the best talents in the world amid their ranks at one stage or another. With that being considered, though, which five players in history have been Manchester United’s best?

5. Bryan Robson

It takes a lot to earn a nickname like “Captain Marvel” at a club of Manchester United’s stature, but Bryan Robson was able to achieve that. Robson made the move north in 1981 after six years in the Midlands with West Bromwich Albion. The £1.5 million that Man United paid was a British transfer record at the time.

Robson inherited the captain’s armband the year after his arrival at Old Trafford and would hold the role until his 1994 departure. In that period, Robson developed further into a truly brilliant box-to-box midfielder, just as adequate at scoring as he was defending. Even despite fairly consistent battles with injury, Robson still made 416 appearances for the Red Devils in his stint with the club.

The last two years of his time with Man United saw Robson lead the club to win the first and second-ever Premier League titles after the English top flight’s redevelopment in the early 90s. Prior to that, he captained the team to three FA Cups and a European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1991.

When Robson departed, it was to take up a player-manager role with Middlesbrough, where he would stay until 2001, though he retired in 1997, just three years after leaving the club at which he had made himself an icon.

4. Ryan Giggs

A one-club man and one of only a few professional players to have appeared in over 1,000 senior games, Ryan Giggs made his Man United debut in 1990, would spend a staggering 24 years with the club and holds the club record for most appearances by any one player.

Giggs’ career goes far beyond simply appearances, however. The Welsh wide man, who was never sent off in his career, was silky on the ball, often utiliizng trickery to bypass any opposing defenders as well as his pace and technical ability. Such were his capabilities that even as his pace declined with age, Giggs was able to move into a more central role and utilize his talents from there.

By the time Giggs retired in 2014, he had won 13 Premier League titles, four FA Cups, triumphed twice in the Champions League and also won four League Cups, a glittering resume of silverware for a player whose name is yet to be forgotten at Old Trafford.

3. Wayne Rooney

Now the manager of Championship side Plymouth Argyle, Wayne Rooney enjoyed a glittering career as a player before entering the world of football management. He emerged with Everton as a teenage sensation and moved to Manchester United at just 19 years old in 2004 in a transfer that included the highest fee, at the time, for a teenage player in football.

There was great pressure on Rooney’s shoulders with such an astronomical fee looming over his head, but it never seemed to bother the Englishman. He quickly became a fixture in the Man United first team and would spend 13 years at the club overall, first as a lively striker before dropping further back as his pace declined with age.

Rooney’s 253 Manchester United goals means that he is the club’s all-time top scorer, having overtaken the legendary Sir Bobby Charlton. Also an England international, Rooney was his country’s all-time top scorer until Harry Kane recently usurped him at the top of that list.

With five Premier Leagues, a Champions League, a Europa League and FA Cup to his name, by the time Rooney departed Man United in 2017, it was unquestionable that he was one of their modern legends.

2. George Best

Often regarded as one of the best wingers of all time, it was with Manchester United that George Best found the most success. Famed for his exploits off the pitch as well as on it, the Northern Irish international was a gifted player, possessing lightning pace and technical ability that put some opposing defenders to shame.

Best scored 179 goals for the club across 470 appearances in 11 years. Bob Bishop, the scout who discovered him in Northern Ireland, famously told then-manager Sir Matt Busby that he thought he’d found the club “a genius,” and a genius Best was, with the winger seemingly able to do anything that came to him on the pitch.

The winger helped Manchester United win two English First Division titles and famously, the 1968 European Cup which came just a decade after the tragic Munich disaster, with Best scoring one of the Red Devils’ four goals in the final.

1. Sir Bobby Charlton

There is perhaps no other player as synonymous with Manchester United as Sir Bobby Charlton, a player whose fame knew no bounds in an era where such global adoration was even harder to come by. A Ballon d’Or winner, Charlton is regarded as one of the greatest talents to ever come out of England.

Debuting as an 18-year-old in 1956, Charlton spent 17 years with the Red Devils, being a survivor of the Munich tragedy and helping the club rebuild from such a horrific incident. Alongside three First Division titles, Charlton was part of the 1963 FA Cup-winning Man United side, having finished as a runner-up twice in the late 1950s.

Two years after being part of the England side that won the 1966 World Cup, Charlton famously captained Manchester United in the 1968 European Cup final against Benfica, scoring twice as the club won 4-1 and with it, their first-ever European Cup.

Charlton would remain Man United captain for five further years until his departure. He made an indelible mark on the club and is remembered as a legend, his name forever etched into Manchester United folklore.