Onana isn't the first big-money United signing to suffer the ignominy of leaving on loan
Many of the most expensive signings in Manchester United history have failed to live up to expectations – with the way some have later left the club providing the strong evidence of how things haven’t worked out.
Critics of United’s transfer business in recent years have pointed to the big fees they’ve spent on players who haven’t delivered.
Equally, there have been complaints over their struggles at offloading players for reasonable sums. In fact, United have often had to turn to the loan market to place unwanted players elsewhere.
For example, they started this summer knowing they wanted to sell Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Antony, all of whom were out on loan by the end of last season. They did get rid of all three, but two of those exits turned out to be initial loans again.
And the latest loan exit United have signed off on is another clear illustration of where a major signing has missed the mark at Old Trafford. Andre Onana is heading to Trabzonspor, thanks to the Turkish transfer window still being open and after the signing of Senne Lammens, following a disappointing two-year stint since his arrival from Inter Milan.
It represents a fall from grace for the most expensive goalkeeper United have ever bought, but he isn’t the first player they’ve paid big bucks for before allowing to leave on loan.
So, who are the most expensive Man Utd signings that have later left on loan?
1. Antony – £85.5m
- Joined in: 2022
- Loaned out: 2025
- To: Real Betis
United managed to outdo themselves with the signing of Antony in 2022. Another of Ten Hag’s Ajax proteges, the Brazil forward arrived at Old Trafford for an eye-watering fee. After scoring 12 goals in the 2021-22 season for Ajax, Antony followed Ten Hag to Manchester with a deadline day summer move.
There were glimpses of his potential when he scored on his first three consecutive Premier League starts. But that was pretty much as good as it ever got for Antony in United colours.
He only scored one Premier League goal in the entire 2023-24 season, raising major concerns over his United career becoming a big waste.
With minimal signs of improvement, Antony eventually escaped by joining Real Betis on loan in January 2025. To his credit, he made the most of the opportunity, scoring nine goals from 26 games.
And just like his arrival at United was a deadline day transfer, so too was his permanent departure from the club. He pushed to stay at Betis and eventually got his wish in September 2025.
Looking back, it’s fair to say United backed themselves into a corner by spending so heavily on Antony. It would have taken some extraordinary form for him to offer value in return, either on the pitch or via his next transfer fee.
2. Jadon Sancho – £73m
- Joined in: 2021
- Loaned out: 2024, 2025
- To: Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea, Aston Villa
It’s hard to think of a transfer with a bigger difference between expectations and reality than Sancho’s move to United. After all, they spent most of the summer of 2020 trying to sign him and eventually their efforts paid off in the summer of 2021.
After a pursuit that long, and with £73m being paid to Borussia Dortmund to finally get the deal done, Sancho was meant to become a star at Old Trafford. But he has barely shone.
Sancho only scored three Premier League goals in his debut season, which wasn’t an encouraging start. He doubled that tally the following season, but then had a high-profile fall-out with Ten Hag in September 2023.
Jettisoned from the first-team squad, the only way for Sancho to salvage his career was to leave at the next opportunity, so he returned to Dortmund on loan in January 2024.
After two goals back in the Bundesliga, Sancho seemingly repaired his differences with Ten Hag and featured in the 2024 Community Shield for United – but soon, he was on the move again.
United sent Sancho to Chelsea for the 2024-25 season and expected to be rid of him for good, thanks to an obligation for a permanent deal if the Blues finished 14th or above in the Premier League.
But Chelsea chose to pay a penalty fee to avoid signing Sancho permanently after failing to agree personal terms with the winger, with whom United were saddled again.
This summer, Sancho has left on loan for a third time in his United career, rejecting a permanent move to Roma in August to hold out for other options and ultimately joining Aston Villa on loan on deadline day.
At this stage, it’s make or break for Sancho. While there have been plenty of background factors, he hasn’t reached the level people expected him to be at by the age of 25.
3. Rasmus Hojlund – £72m
- Joined in: 2023
- Loaned out: 2025
- To: Napoli
Needing a new striker in 2023, United spent big to sign Hojlund from Atalanta, where he’d only been for a year. Even without the knowledge of what the next two years would go like, it was hard to escape a feeling that they had overpaid.
With just 10 goals to his name for Atalanta, it was clear that United’s investment in Hojlund was more in view of his potential than what he could instantly deliver. But at a club of their stature, and with a price tag that high – an initial £64m, rising to £72m with add-ons – patience would be at a premium.
Hojlund scored a respectable 16 goals in his first season with United, before suffering a significant goal drought in his second, which he went on to finish with 10 goals in all competitions but only four in the Premier League.
With fellow striker Joshua Zirkzee, who joined a year after, struggling to convince as well, United went into the market for another centre-forward and signed Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig in August 2025.
Hojlund became the casualty and completed a return to Serie A with reigning champions Napoli, who had a vacancy because of an injury to ex-United striker Romelu Lukaku.
There’s a strong chance Hojlund’s move to Napoli becomes permanent, but their obligation to buy him depends on conditions which aren’t guaranteed to be met.
Only if Napoli qualify for the 2026-27 Champions League and Hojlund meets an appearance target would they have to buy him, but all signs point towards that being everyone’s desired outcome.
4. Anthony Martial – £58m
- Joined in: 2015
- Loaned out: 2022
- To: Sevilla
Martial became the most expensive teenager in football history when he joined United from Monaco in 2015 for an initial £36m, rising to a possible £58m with add-ons.
Optimism was high at the start of his United career when he scored against Liverpool on his debut. The French forward finished his first season with United with 17 goals across all competitions.
Ultimately, it was a tally he only bettered once over the rest of his United career, which lasted until 2024. Struggling to break free from inconsistency, Martial had just one goal to his name in the first half of the 2021-22 season when United decided to let him change scene.
Martial subsequently spent the second half of the season on loan with Sevilla, where he failed to get off the mark in LaLiga (but scored once in the Europa League) as his struggles continued.
There was no option to buy in the agreement with Sevilla, but they probably wouldn’t have wanted to keep him anyway.
After being reintegrated, Martial scored 11 goals over the next two seasons, before being released at the end of his contract and joining AEK Athens as a free agent.
5. Andre Onana – £47.2m
- Joined in: 2023
- Loaned out: 2025
- To: Trabzonspor
United made a statement of intent in 2023 by transforming their goalkeeper department. David de Gea was allowed to leave on a free transfer after 12 seasons – five of which he was named in the PFA Premier League team of the year in – as their first choice.
Despite not receiving any transfer fee for De Gea, United – who also sold Dean Henderson to Crystal Palace for £15m, with his place as backup goalkeeper taken by £4.3m signing Altay Bayindir – paid a higher price than they ever had before for a goalkeeper to make Onana his replacement.
The former Ajax star was familiar to manager Ten Hag from their time working together in the Eredivisie. Moreover, he arrived at Old Trafford just over a month after playing in the Champions League final for Inter.
It was hoped that Onana could not only prove a worthy successor to De Gea in goal, but prove to be more capable as a ball-playing keeper in possession than the Spaniard. However, despite playing in all 38 of United’s Premier League games in the 2023-24 season, Onana struggled to overly convince – even with the ball at his feet.
Errors continued to be evident in his 2024-25 form, prompting United to search for a more reliable keeper and gamble on Royal Antwerp prospect Senne Lammens over proven Aston Villa and Argentina man Emiliano Martinez.
That has led to United signing off on Onana’s exit for Trabzonspor, who will even be paying him a higher salary than what he’s been earning in England, according to reports.
United were willing to accept Trabzonspor’s offer of a loan deal for Onana, now 29, with no option to buy, pointing towards Lammens being the regular goalkeeper for Ruben Amorim’s side and Bayindir being the reserve.
There will be two years remaining on Onana’s contract by the end of his loan spell and it’s hard to see United recouping a fee close to their original investment in him.
6. Donny van de Beek – £40m
- Joined in: 2020
- Loaned out: 2022, 2024
- To: Everton, Eintracht Frankfurt
Van de Beek was one of the standout players in the Ajax side that reached the Champions League semi-finals in 2019, which made him a coveted target. United won the race to sign him for around £35m, rising to £40m, in the summer of 2020 after their own return to Champions League football.
But Van de Beek only played in half of United’s Premier League games in his debut season, with a paltry four of those appearances being as a starter.
The midfielder only lasted halfway through the next season before United sent him away on loan to Everton, where injuries affected his chances of gaining crucial English experience.
Even the appointment of his old boss at Ajax, Erik ten Hag, in the summer of 2022 at Old Trafford did little to aid his cause.
Van de Beek endured a second loan spell away from United in the second half of the 2023-24 season with Eintracht Frankfurt, who swerved their option to buy him for around £9.5m. In the end, United’s loss on Van de Beek was even greater; they sold him to Girona that summer for just £420,000 up front, although hefty add-ons could claw back some money for the Red Devils.