Playing for 90
Fansided

Manchester United, revisiting summer 2012: Transfer successes and fails

By Tom Bogert

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - AUGUST 17: Robin van Persie (L) and Manager Sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United pose with a Manchester United shirt after van Persie signed a four year contract with the club at Old Trafford on August 17, 2012 in Manchester, England. (Photo by John Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images)
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - AUGUST 17: Robin van Persie (L) and Manager Sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United pose with a Manchester United shirt after van Persie signed a four year contract with the club at Old Trafford on August 17, 2012 in Manchester, England. (Photo by John Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images) /
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LANDOVER, MD – JULY 29: Shinji Kagawa
LANDOVER, MD – JULY 29: Shinji Kagawa /

Shinji Kagawa /// £17million /// Failure

The first Japanese player to win a Premier League medal, the first Japanese player to play for Manchester United and the first Asian player to score a Premier League hat-trick, proceedings were moving along relatively smoothly in his first season at United after a £17million move from Borussia Dortmund.

A knee injury would keep him away from the first team for a couple of months, but he returned seamlessly in 2012-13. He would make just 20 league appearances but he scored 6 goals, a good return for a midfielder.

But then the following season when Moyes took charge, Kagawa’s Manchester United career went south quick. That season he made just 18 league appearances and failed to score a goal. It was part of United’s anemic, clunky season in attack, a far cry from the norms under Ferguson.

Kagawa returned to Dortmund after that season, where he’s recovered form but still hasn’t reached the heights he hit in his first Dortmund stint. At 27 years old, he still has time to recapture his top gear.

For those numbers, his United move has got to be seen as a failure. Staying just two years and not having an integral impact on the title in his first year isn’t enough. When he was penning his contract, not many would have foreseen just a two-year stint in Manchester. He was young and proven at the highest European level.

Next: Robin Van Persie

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