Six players Man Utd gave up on and sold too soon

It must have pained him to type it, but Liverpool stalwart Jamie Carragher once wrote: "The only mistake Sir Alex Ferguson has made is underestimating just how good he actually was."

While the succession of underwhelming managerial successors has proven that point time and time again over the subsequent decade, Ferguson wasn't entirely without his faults. In fact, he was guilty of underestimating just how good some of his own players were before showing them the door.

Here are some of the individuals that Ferguson and his faltering heirs have let leave the Theatre of Dreams a little too soon.

Jaap Stam

• Year of departure: 2001
• Sold to: Lazio

With a typically blunt delivery, Jaap Stam surmised his hasty exit from Old Trafford: "One quick conversation in my car at a petrol station in Manchester was enough for me to leave that big club."

After winning the Premier League title in each of his three seasons as United's starting centre-back, Ferguson made the stunning decision to sell Stam to Lazio - a transfer that the defender learned about while refuelling his car.

At the time, Ferguson was convinced by Lazio's handsome offer, Stam's controversial autobiography and a misinterpretation of his defensive statistics, but the legendary manager later recognised the error of his ways. "When I think of disappointments," Ferguson reflected in 2013, "obviously Jaap Stam was always a disappointment to me. I made a bad decision there."

Diego Forlan

• Year of departure: 2004
• Sold to: Villarreal

To this day, Forlan bristles at the idea that he was a flop at Manchester United. "I was not a failure as such," Forlan argued. "If you do not play, you cannot meet expectations."

Across two-and-a-half seasons at United, Forlan never started more than three league games in a row. Without the opportunity to build any rhythm, the Uruguayan scored just ten Premier League goals - fewer than Middlesbrough's Massimo Maccarone managed over the same period.

However, once Forlan was afforded a run of games at Villarreal, he finished his first season away from Old Trafford as La Liga's top scorer. The former tennis prodigy would win another Pichichi trophy at Atletico Madrid in 2009, outscoring, among others, Lionel Messi.

Gerard Pique

• Year of departure: 2008
• Sold to: Barcelona

Gerard Pique had always dreamed of playing for Barcelona - even after Louis van Gaal shoved him to the floor as a child and declared that he would be too weak to make the grade.

However, Pique admits that he "was happy in Manchester even though I didn't play as much as I wanted to". Pique was the third wheel to Manchester United's best centre-back pairing of the modern era. As he later explained: "The centre-backs, Rio Ferdinand, [Nemanja] Vidic. I was really unlucky. They never got injured."

Yet, shortly after United sanctioned Pique's return to Barcelona in 2008, Ferdinand's back problems began to flare up. "Then I left and then they started to get injuries!" Pique wryly remembered. "This is football."

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Wilfried Zaha

• Year of departure: 2015
• Sold to: Crystal Palace

After two years, less than three hours of competitive football, zero goals and as many assists, Manchester United sold Wilfried Zaha back to Crystal Palace for a £7m loss.

Ferguson's last signing as United manager was Zaha but Van Gaal was in the hot seat when the decision was made to cut ties with the tricky winger.

In the first four full seasons of Zaha's second spell at Palace, he ranked as one of the two most prolific dribblers in the entire Premier League despite playing for a side that treated possession with disdain. Zaha would likely have seen even more of the ball had he ever been given a start at Old Trafford.

Angel Di Maria

• Year of departure: 2015
• Sold to: PSG

Angel Di Maria's single season at Manchester United was not a happy one. An attempted burglary while at home with his wife and one-year-old daughter midway through the campaign strengthened his resolve to leave after falling out with manager Louis van Gaal.

Despite his disputes with the coaching staff, Di Maria laid on ten Premier League assists in just 20 starts - only Cesc Fabregas, who made his senior debut in English football, boasted a better ratio of goals created that season.

Had Di Maria hung around Old Trafford for another year, he would have outlasted Van Gaal. Jose Mourinho replaced the gruff Dutchman in 2016 and could have reunited with Di Maria, a player that he heavily favoured during their shared time at Real Madrid.

Memphis Depay

• Year of departure: 2017
• Sold to: Lyon

Perhaps if Memphis Depay had enlisted the services of the sports analytics company SciSports earlier, he may never have joined United in the first place. In any case, it was Depay's search for more playing time that hastened his Old Trafford departure after less than 12 months.

SciSports identified Lyon as the best fit which proved to be an inspired decision. Across five seasons in Ligue 1, Depay directly contributed to a goal every 98 minutes.

Depay even managed to rekindle his relationship with Van Gaal - his manager at United - when the pair linked up for the Dutch national team. Only Robin van Persie - a player United bought at just the right time and arguably sold a little too late - has scored more goals for the Netherlands than Depay.

On this edition of The Promised Land, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders and Rob Blanchette discuss Rasmus Hojlund's desire to join Manchester United and interest in Fiorentina midfielder Sofyan Amrabat. If you can't see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!

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