Manchester United record transfer signings: Keane, Pogba and Red Devils' spending evolution

United swooped in after learning that Keane had a deal in place to join Blackburn Rovers from Nottingham Forest, with the British transfer record broken when luring the Irish midfielder away from the City Ground.

Keane was still a rough diamond at that point, but Ferguson polished him into a global superstar that will forever hold a place in British football folklore.

The no-nonsense midfielder would become captain of the Red Devils and the standards he demanded of himself and those around him allowed seven Premier League titles, four FA Cups and a Champions League crown to be collected across 12 memorable years.

A Premier League Golden Boot winner in 1993-94, Cole’s exploits in front of goal at Newcastle made him of obvious appeal to United as they began to take a stranglehold on English football.

He would go on to record 121 efforts for the Red Devils through 275 appearances, despite regularly facing questions of his finishing ability, with history made within weeks of his arrival at Old Trafford when he netted five times in one outing against Ipswich.

Cole could always be relied upon to do his bit for the collective cause, despite being an archetypal fox in the box, and was a key man during United’s historic run to Treble glory in 1998-99.

The Dutch defender become an iconic figure at the Theatre of Dreams through just three seasons in England – one of which was decimated by an Achilles injury.

His brutal combination of power and pace allowed him to dominant opposition strikers, with his arrival from PSV proving to be one of the final pieces in the puzzle that allowed United to pretty much sweep the board on a trophy front in 1998-99.

An acrimonious departure for Lazio was made in 2001, with Ferguson later admitting that he made a mistake, but there will always be a place for him in the hearts and minds of United supporters that were fortunate enough to catch him in action.

Shortly after breaking the bank to add Stam’s unique brand of steel to their defensive unit, United dug deep again when luring Trinidadian striker Yorke away from domestic rivals Aston Villa.

He proved to be a shrewd addition to the Red Devils’ ranks as a destructive partnership was forged alongside fellow frontman Cole – with Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer proving to be more than capable deputies.

Yorke also starred in the Treble-winning campaign of 1999, when he hit 29 goals across all competitions, and moved on after finding the target on 65 occasions in total through 152 appearances.

Stepping into Yorke’s boots, literally and figuratively, was Dutch frontman Van Nistelrooy when he finally completed a move to Old Trafford a year later than planned after suffering a serious knee injury at PSV.

That issue never held him back, with the Netherlands international become one of the most prolific frontmen the Premier League has ever seen.

He only won one title and a solitary Golden Boot across five seasons with United, but hit 150 goals in 219 appearances – reaching the fabled mark of 20 in the English top-flight on four occasions – with his best return coming in at 44 during the 2002-03 campaign.

Within days of Van Nistelrooy completing a record-setting move to Manchester, United had broken the back again to take a talented Argentine midfielder off the hands of Lazio.

He was intended to be the playmaker that made Ferguson’s Red Devils tick, but he never truly got to grips with English football and has to be written off as a flop.

Veron was sold to Chelsea two years after his arrival at Old Trafford for half the money that United paid for him, and the South American fared even worse at Stamford Bridge before a Premier League adventure was written off entirely.

After starring for West Ham and Leeds, while also forming part of England’s so-called ‘Golden Generation’, Ferdinand linked up with the third United of his career when becoming the most expensive defender in world football.

An eight-month ban for missing mandatory drug tests meant that United had to be patient before unleashing their record signing, but a classy centre-half proved to be worth the wait.

A world-class operator with pace to burn and impressive ball-playing ability took in 455 appearances for the Red Devils across 12 seasons, with six Premier League titles and a Champions League crown collected in that time.

It took over six years for United to break their transfer record again, with a deal done late for an enigmatic Bulgarian striker in the summer window of 2008.

Manchester City had also been keen on acquiring Berbatov from Tottenham, but Ferguson was never going to let noisy neighbours get the better of him and pulled off a stunning deal shortly before another recruitment deadline passed.

A mercurial talent hit over 50 goals for the Red Devils, claiming a share of the Golden Boot in 2010-11, and formed part of squads that claimed two Premier League titles while also reaching a couple of Champions League finals.

Desperate times called for desperate measures during a winter of discontent at Old Trafford that saw David Moyes finding out the hard way that succeeding Ferguson was always going to be an impossible task.

Mata represented one final roll of the dice, with a World Cup-winning playmaker snapped up from Chelsea in a deal that once again raised the transfer bar in Manchester.

He can be considered a success story, with 285 appearances taken in by a humble hero, but FA Cup, League Cup and Europa League winners’ medals are all that he has to show for eight-and-a-half years of graft.

Moyes had been replaced by Louis van Gaal when United splashed the cash again on another creative influence that was proven at the very highest level.

Di Maria was a Champions League winner from his time at Real Madrid and a man that did not look out of place alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Co, but he discovered that the Premier League can be an unforgiving beast.

The Argentina international looked a shadow of his former self in Manchester and was moved on to Paris Saint-Germain after one largely forgettable season – with a spark soon rediscovered in France.

A jump of £30m goes to show how quickly the transfer market was spiralling out of control a year prior to Neymar making his stunning move to Paris Saint-Germain.

United knew all about Pogba, having brought him through their academy system, and had seen him blossom into a global superstar through four trophy-laden years at Juventus.

He never lived up to the hype back in Manchester, though, as questions were forever asked of his form and commitment to the cause, and he walked away for nothing in the summer of 2022 after hitting free agency – allowing another retracing of steps to be taken to Turin.