Man Utd’s biggest flop forwards revealed including ex-Real Madrid star who cost £20MILLION per goal and current star

Published on August 18, 2025 at 10:59 AM
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MANCHESTER UNITED’s biggest flop forwards have been revealed as the club has forked out MILLIONS for little in return.

The club have spent a fortune trying to replace Robin van Persie who was the last forward to score more than 20 goals in a season.

Robin van Persie celebrating a goal.
Robin van Persie is the last striker to score 20 goals in a Prem season for Manchester United
Angel Di Maria in a Manchester United jersey.
Angel di Maria’s three Premier League goals did not come cheap
Rasmus Hojlund of Manchester United during a soccer match.
Rasmus Hojlund could be on his way out of United
Joshua Zirkzee of Manchester United.
Joshua Zirkzee has some time to improve his record for the club

Ruben Amorim has overseen an outlay of £207.5MLLION on the likes of Bryan Mbeumo , Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko this summer.

The hope will be that the trio can form a dynamic attack that can fire the United back up the Premier League table.

The three will not have to do a lot to make a noticeable improvement after the failures of the club’s previous striker options.

Some of the club’s previous forwards rarely even scored in a poor reflection of their transfer fees.

Angel Di Maria was signed from Real Madrid in 2014 as a superstar for £60m.

The Argentine would only spend one season in Manchester before being sold on to Paris Saint-Germain .

He got off to a wonderful start with a glorious lob against Leicester City .

However, he was only able to follow up that goal with two more in the Premier League, with each strike costing £20MILLION.

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Current forward Joshua Zirkzee is the next player to see each of his goals not come cheap.

The Dutchman arrived last summer from Bologna for £37m but only managed three goals in the league.

He's taking lessons from Mikel Arteta' joke fans as Ruben Amorim makes VERY bold claim after Man Utd's loss to Arsenal

Zirkee’s goals have cost £12.3m each but he does have time to improve that record.

Rasmus Hojlund , on the other hand, appears to be on his way out of the club this summer with a move to AC Milan on the cards .

The former Atalanta star has scored 14 league goals since his move in 2023 for £72m.

Each one has cost United £5.1m, and he will be hoping to regain his form this season, whether it is at Old Trafford or not.

Graphic showing Manchester United's costly forwards, listing players, goals scored, transfer fees, and cost per goal.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic in Manchester United uniform.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic signed for United in 2016
Edinson Cavani of Manchester United celebrates scoring a goal.
Edinson Cavani scored 12 goals after his free transfer to Old Trafford
Cristiano Ronaldo in Manchester United uniform.
Cristiano Ronaldo provided some value on his return

Outcast Jadon Sancho has also proved to be a costly mistake, with each of his nine league goals being worth £8.1m.

Although this is not as bad when compared to Brazilian winger Antony .

The former Ajax man cost a staggering £85m when he was reunited with Erik ten Hag .

He was unable to live up to the hype and has only scored five time in the Premier League.

Each goal has cost United £17m, with the club now working to ship him out before the end of the transfer window.

Some forwards have proven to be less damaging to the finances with their rate of goals.

Anthony Martial netted 63 times for United during his nine-year stay in Manchester.

He cost the club £58m from AS Monaco , with each of his league goals costing £900,000 each.

Three Manchester United players holding up their new team shirts.
United will be hoping for better from their new crop of forwards

Man Utd's transfer deals

Manchester-united-midfielder-bryan-mbeumo-1014289511

IN

  • Bryan Mbeumo – from Brentford – £71m
  • Matheus Cunha – from Wolves – £62.5m
  • Diego Leon – from Cerro Porteno – £7m
  • Benjamin Sesko – from RB Leipzig – £74m

TOTAL£214.5m

OUT

  • Victor Lindelof – released
  • Christian Eriksen – released

TOTAL£0m

MAN UTD TRANSFER NEWS LIVE

Cristiano Ronaldo also performed well on his £20m return to the club as he scored 19 times.

But the move did turn sour as his contract was terminated following his spat with Ten Hag and explosive interview with  Piers Morgan .

United have had success shopping in the free agency with the pair of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Edinson Cavani .

The duo netted 29 between the two of them for much better value than many of their counterparts.

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