Manchester United continued what was referred to as the clean-up in the summer transfer window, but how are their former players doing at their new clubs?
Under their current regime, Manchester United have worked hard to cut wage bills and get rid of unwanted players. That became especially important this summer when they decided to spend large sums of money on the signings of Benjamin Šeško, Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha to form a completely new attack, as well as bringing in Senne Lammens as their new goalkeeper.
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As a result, several players reached the end of their own United careers, whether they were released, sold or loaned.
How do they fare afterwards? Here are those who have more than 10 games for Manchester United.
Christian Eriksen
Eriksen was released at the end of his contract after three years of service with United, and was eventually picked up by Wolfsburg in September.
The attacking midfielder has become a more regular starter again in Germany. He registered the first of four assists in the Bundesliga so far in October against Hamburg, and then his only goal in January against St. Pauli.
But Wolfsburg find themselves just one point above the Bundesliga’s relegation play-off spot, so there is hard work ahead ahead.
Victor Lindelöf
Lindelöf spent eight years as a United player before being released, although he has managed to continue in the Premier League after joining Aston Villa.
It took until December for the defender to start a league game for the first time for Villa, but it started a run of six consecutive top division games that lasted a full 90 minutes each time.
Lindelöf has been back on the bench more recently after Pau Torres’ return from injury, but earned a lot of respect for his performances when he was a stand-in.
Alejandro Garnacho
In a saga that approached the deadline, United sold Garnacho to Chelsea for an amount of around £40 million after his 144 appearances for the club.
Eager to prove a point, Garnacho struggled at the start, failing to score or provide assists in his first six games for his new club.
However, he has become Chelsea’s most common starter on the left wing and has increased his production, scoring double goals against Cardiff City and Arsenal in the Carabao Cup, so he now averages one assist every two third games across all competitions.
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Antony
Antony’s loan spell with Real Betis in the second half of last season was particularly successful, so the winger was happy to make the transfer permanent.
His basic stats show a similar level of performance over the first half of this season as during his loan spell, having added 25 appearances and nine goals to his 26 appearances and nine goals from last season.
The winger has not scored in LaLiga in any of his last seven games, but scored in four of Betis’ Europa League games.
Toby Collyer
Collyer was sent on his first loan spell away from United in the summer, but he only spent a few months with West Brom before being placed at Hull City instead.
During his time at The Hawthorns, Collyer started just three Championship games, and had to retire after 11 minutes into the final due to a calf injury. In total, he played 12 times for West Brom and provided one assist.
Due to the injury, the 22-year-old midfielder is still waiting for his Hull debut.
Marcus Rashford
Rashford secured his dream loan move to Barcelona in the summer after finishing last season on loan at Aston Villa and rediscovering himself.
They say be careful what you wish for, but the United academy graduate is enjoying himself at Barcelona, where he has 10 goals and 13 assists from 33 games.
Usually playing on the left wing, Rashford has started 12 LaLiga games and come on for a further eight, and has been happy with Hansi Flick’s management, which has led to talk of a permanent transfer (although it may be on terms other than the purchase option in his contract).
There has been no contact about a return to United, and the chances of him playing for his childhood club again are slim.
Rasmus Højlund
Hojlund fell victim to United’s decision to bolster the attack with Benjamin Šeško and secured a return to Serie A by signing for Napoli on loan.
The Danish striker has already reached double digits of goals for Napoli, with 10 goals in 29 games so far – although he is yet to score in Serie A in 2026.
His stats are somewhat skewed by the fact that he has scored double goals against Sporting CP, Juventus and Cremonese – meaning he has been scoreless in a good number of other games – but Napoli still seem to be happy to continue with a permanent transfer, which they will be committed to if they qualify for the Champions League (they are currently on track to that by sitting in third place in Serie A).
Jadon Sancho
After Chelsea paid a fine for withdrawing from a permanent deal for Sancho, the winger waited until the deadline day to flee to Aston Villa on loan.
Sancho is yet to score in the Premier League for Villa, with all four of his starts for them in the top flight coming after Christmas as he works his way into the competition.
A couple of weeks ago, Sancho opened his Villa account in the Europa League with a goal against Fenerbahçe, after which he praised Unai Emery for supporting and believing in him – but there have been reports that he is already aiming for a return to Germany for his next move.
André Onana
Onana’s departure was delayed until after the English window had closed, but the controversial goalkeeper was able to join Turkish side Trabzonspor on loan in September, a couple of weeks after the signing of Senne Lammens.
Onana has conceded 22 goals from 16 games in the Turkish Süper Lig so far, and has otherwise kept three clean sheets.
After winning over their new supporters, Onana could aim for a permanent move to Trabzonspor in the summer, but negotiations will have to start from scratch as they do not have an option to buy.
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