Juan "Seba" Veron arrived at Old Trafford in July 2001 for a British transfer record £28.1 million. One of the biggest names in Serie A with Lazio and amongst the finest midfielders in world football, he was meant to be the final piece in the jigsaw that would give United that missing extra edge to win the Champions League.

However, it never worked out that way. The major problem was that his arrival upset the balance of the team. Ferguson didn't quite know where to play him and a change of formation to accommodate the midfielder seemed to undo United's attacking potency. After good start in the opening games Seba seemed to lose his way. In big games with Arsenal and Liverpool he seemed to "disappear" and have no influence on the action. It didn't help that the media was constantly linking him with a move back to old club Lazio with each week a new rumour emerging about how he was unhappy in Manchester.

In fairness, Seba was also hindered by a persistent Achilles injury which plagued him for a lot of the season and there were flashes of brilliance in games with Everton, Deportivo, Newcastle and Spurs - but they proved all too few. Yet when playing for Argentina, Veron was a different player, he was the influential creative force with them but not in a red shirt. Perhaps part of the problem was that the Argentina team revolves around Veron, whereas United revolves around Keane, therefore Veron's influence is weakened.

In his second season there was improvement as his European performances were top quality with goals against Maccabi Haifa, Olympiakos, Leverkusen and domestically he adapted better to the physical side of the English game. In the home game with Arsenal he not only scored the opener but formed an unlikely midfield paring with Phil Neville in Keane's absence. Unfortunately, a broken foot injury kept him out of the season finale and although Seba got a championship medal to show for his efforts, the cold reality was he had contributed little to the 18 game unbeaten run that gave United the title.

In the end Sir Alex decided to cut his losses in the summer of 2003 and sell Veron to Chelsea for £15 million - a £13 million loss that will go down as his biggest transfer failure to date. Veron's Chelsea move bombed even worse than his United one but a loan to Inter Milan in 2004 saw him rejuvenated. In 2006 returned to his boyhood club Estudiantes de La Plata in Argentina.

Despite being one of the most gifted players to play at Manchester United, Veron's failure to make a success at Old Trafford will always remain something of a mystery and major disappointment to the fans who held such high hopes for what was undoubtedly a world class talent.