4 biggest Manchester United busts

With Memphis Depay set to swap the Theatre of Dreams for Lyon's flashy-new Stade des Lumieres for a reported fee of €25 million, the once-prodigious-yet-since-abandoned Dutch winger is the latest of a line of players to arrive at Manchester United with lofty hopes only to leave with fantasies unfulfilled.

Depay's decline at United is an unfortunate one after he left the PSV as league champ, the division's top scorer in 2014-15, and the recipient of a rousing standing ovation during his final match against Heracles.

Related: Depay's Lyon unveiling imminent after estimated €25M move

The 22-year-old now leaves to join Les Gones with a whimper.

When assessing a topic as expansive as the biggest Manchester United busts, there are several factors and 138 years of history to consider.

There are players like Anderson, who made the high-profile £26-million switch from Porto in May 2007 only to become the butt of jokes for his new-found pies-and-crisps-inspired hefty frame. Still, the Brazilian midfielder won a quartet of league titles, two FA Cups, and the 2007-08 Champions League before a loan spell with Fiorentina and return to his homeland with Internacional.

Also consider players like Owen Hargreaves and Jordi Cruyff, who performed well before injuries sidetracked their Red Devils careers. It's a bit unfair to call a player a bust when a host of ailments and not a rapid decline in form were the reason for diminishing results.

Favouring recency, and with the aforementioned reasoning for omission in mind, congratulations to Juan Pablo Veron, Eric Djemba-Djemba, Gabriel Obertan, and Kleberson for narrowly missing this list of Manchester United's biggest busts.

Angel Di Maria

For a club with seemingly bottomless pockets, Argentine winger Angel Di Maria was a massive waste of money.

No list bemoaning Red Devils busts can exclude a player of such collapse, especially after Louis van Gaal lured the playmaker to Old Trafford from Real Madrid for an exorbitant £59.7 million. It was the fifth-most expensive transfer of all time and the highest fee ever paid by a British club.

A trio of goals and ten helpers in his only season in United red notwithstanding, metrics only tell part of the story of a player so visibly discontent and lacking in cocksure that a move away Manchester was a lesson in inevitability.

Eleven months after putting pen to paper, Di Maria skipped a trans-Atlantic flight for United's U.S.-based preseason before a fortnight of speculation climaxed with a four-year contract at Paris Saint-Germain for a reported fee of £44 million.

Quick with the quids, Ed Woodward would surely have realised in hindsight that £15.7 million would have bought 21 Riyad Mahrez's from French talent incubator Le Havre.

Wilfried Zaha

Sir Alex Ferguson's last-ever signing, Wilfried Zaha, was once a prized capture.

The Ivorian-born merchant of pace and panache emerged at Crystal Palace's academy before United beat the likes of Arsenal to Zaha's signing in 2013. Zaha signed a five-and-a-half-year contract for a reported £10m rising to £15m with performance-related add-ons, and a promising future with the Lancashire giant appeared in the cards.

Zaha was immediately loaned back to Selhurst Park before making his United debut the following season in the Community Shield against Wigan Athletic.

Four senior appearances later and of no use to the-soon-to-be-exiled David Moyes, Zaha was loaned to Cardiff City in January and the again back to Palace the following summer on a season-long loan. By 2015, the Eagles activated a £3-million buy back clause, and Zaha finished the season with four goals and a pair of assists as for mid-table Palace.

Now in his third full season with Palace, Zaha has become one of the Premier League's most menacing wingers. Zaha's 80 take-ons are second only to Eden Hazard's 87, and his involvement in 10 tallies (four goals, six assists) is club best. As with England, United will look at Zaha as one that got away.

Bebe

A shock £7.4m signing from Guimaraes in the summer of 2010, Portuguese winger Bebe was an unknown in his homeland before finalising a move to Manchester just five weeks after joining the Braga-based side.

Unveiled in mid-August alongside fellow signings Chris Smalling and Chicharito, Bebe was a true rags-to-riches story whose Red Devils tenure too quickly became a lightning rod for derision.

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Formerly homeless after childhood abandonment by his parents, Bebe's career started modestly with a season-long spell with second-tier Estrela. That prompted a move to Guimaraes, who slapped a €3-million release clause on the forward. After a slew of dazzling preseason outings, that fee rose to €9 million.

With nary a first-team performance in Portugal's top flight, United swooped for the unknown player who made just seven appearances before loan spells with Besiktas, Rio Ave, and Pacos de Ferreira.

Four years after signing with United, Bebe made a €3-million move to Benfica, putting an end to one of the more puzzling spells at Old Trafford during Ferguson's celebrated two-decade reign. For a player who overcame such odds to move to one of Europe's biggest sides, it's a shame that Bebe's Premier League tenure is shrouded in such antagonism.

Mark Bosnich

Like Massimo Taibi, whose claim to fame is being one of two 'keepers to score in Serie A, and not a dire 12 goals conceded in four matches at United, and Roy Carroll, who was a constant source of concern in his 49 run-outs, Mark Bosnich was a shot-stopping signing Sir Alex Ferguson will not soon forget.

The New South Wales-born Bosnich made the switch from Aussie semi-pro football to United's academy in 1989 before a return to Sydney and a eight-year spell at Aston Villa prompted a return to Old Trafford.

In three erratic seasons at United, Bosnich made just 23 appearances as he lost the first-choice duties to Fabien Barthez. Ferguson would later call Bosnich a "terrible professional."

Bosnich replied to that candid claim, saying, "The fact remains that I was the only player he signed twice at Manchester United. I'm honoured to be mentioned. He's entitled to his view and I'm entitled to mine."

The 17-time capped Socceroos player was soon off to Chelsea on a free transfer, where he failed a drug test in 2002 and developed a "$5000-a-week cocaine habit."