Patrick Dorgu looks set to be the first Manchester United signing of the Ruben Amorim era, joining from Lecce for around £25m as a bona fide left wing-back option.
The 20-year-old has four caps for Denmark and would become the 16th Scandinavian to represent United in the Premier League.
To be clear about something that we didn’t know was quite such a hot topic for debate (but apparently very much is having delved into Scandi forums and looked at maps including or excluding Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Finland), for the purposes of this ranking of Scandinavian Red Devils we’ve focused on the three nations we’re tempted to call The Main Ones but absolutely won’t.
We’re talking Denmark, Sweden and Norway, and have ranked them from worst to best.
15) Bojan Djordjic
“I felt like I’d lost my power,” recalled Djordic having arrived at United as a promising teenager in 1999 and immediately being told by Sir Alex Ferguson that he needed to get rid of his luscious, flowing locks on their first meeting.
And the Swede’s Samson-like premonition bore out in a career that saw him play just 183 games in total for 13 different, all notably inferior, football clubs after less than 90 minutes for the Red Devils.
14) Josh King
He very nearly returned to United from Bournemouth in January 2020 when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer instead plumped for Odion Ighalo, but will have to settle for his two senior appearances for the Red Devils unless Amorim fancies bringing him in from Toulouse, for whom he’s got more league goal contributions (7) than any United player barring Amad Diallo (12) and Bruno Fernandes (11).
13) Erik Nevland
The striker made just eight appearances for United and made a greater but not all that great impact on English football with Fulham, for whom he scored ten goals in 67 games.
READ MORE: Ranking every post-Fergie Man Utd manager’s first signings as Amorim closes in on Dorgu
12) Henrik Larsson
It felt like he played far more than just 13 games and it’s a shame we didn’t get to see more of a wonderful footballer in the Premier League.
11) Anthony Elanga
Ralf Rangnick claimed he was a “role model” for his work-shy teammates and he was for a very brief time considered to be an Amad Diallo-style saviour at Old Trafford before escaping for much sunnier climes at Nottingham Forest.
10) Anders Lindegaard
Joined in the January before Edwin van der Sar retired and may very briefly have hoped that he could be the club’s new No.1 before they went and signed David de Gea six months later. Nine clean sheets in 21 Premier League games isn’t too shabby.
9) Christian Eriksen
Three years at Manchester United just isn’t what you need after staring death in the face, particularly as Eriksen has consistently been asked to fill the midfield doughnut when he should if anything be the delicious topping.
8) Rasmus Hojlund
We’re way past the point where people have realised how little Hojlund is doing, with the excuses for his performances wearing thin and morphing into anger, based partly on him costing £64m but mainly because there has been evidence, albeit limited, that there is a proper striker in there.
7) Victor Lindelof
It’s always felt as though Lindelof was too sensible and mature for Manchester United. He’s the sort of guy whose pleasure in life derives from a dog walk to a coffee shop or a critically acclaimed arthouse film rather than being surrounded by revellers in the VIP section of a nightclub.
Haven’t said much about his quality as a footballer there. He’s probably a bit underrated if anything. More importantly, you would love to see your daughter bring him home to meet the family.
6) Jesper Blomqvist
He played 38 games for United in the Treble year and that was that. Baller.
5) Zlatan Ibrahimovic
There were questions when he arrived as to whether he still had it as a 34-year-old or if Manchester United was just another club to check off on his European powerhouse bucket list, but no player signed post-Sir Alex Ferguson before or since – with 29 goals and ten assists – comes close to his goal contributions rate of one every 103 minutes.
Pretty sure Ruben Amorim would be starting the current 43-year-old Zlatan if he had the option.
4) Henning Berg
He was key to Blackburn winning the title in 1995, moved to United, and won it on a further two occasions and also played a starring role for the Red Devils in Europe, with his displays in the 1999 quarter-final against Inter particularly memorable.
3) Ronny Johnsen
He was one of three players along with Berg and Ji-sung Park picked out as the most underrated by Sir Alex Ferguson in his time at the club; he won the Premier League in four of his six seasons at the club and started four of the five knockout games in their 1999 Champions League win, including the final.
2) Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Incredible that such a reliable goalscorer was for the vast majority of his Manchester United career third or fourth choice striker. Amorim, and indeed Solskjaer when he was manager, would have killed for someone so accomplished on front of goal.
1) Peter Schmiechel
He was always going to top this list and would be at the summit of many people’s Best Premier League Goalkeeper ranking too. Hard to argue against a guy with 10 major trophies, who is still the reference point for pundits who could probably do with an example from this century as a comparison when a goalkeeper rushes out of goal and spread-eagles to block a shot.
