Alex Ferguson was urged to sign the winger from Sporting Lisbon by his Manchester United players after they had been given the run-around by the Sporting Lisbon teenager in a pre-season friendly.
The £12m deal was done and the winger lit up English football from the moment he stepped off the bench for his debut against Bolton Wanderers.
One Champions League, three Premier League titles, one FA Cup and the Ballon D’Or later, he headed off to Real Madrid leaving a seemingly never-ending showreel of highlights behind him.
Ricardo Carvalho
The central defender was the bedrock of Jose Mourinho’s defence at Porto and followed the manager to Stamford Bridge in 2004 where his partnership with John Terry provided the platform for Chelsea’s success in the following years.
Injuries affected the latter part of his six-year stay at the club but he had won three league titles, an FA Cup and two League Cups when he finally left for Real Madrid in 2010.
The midfielder’s displays for Monaco when they knocked Manchester City out of the Champions League in 2017 left an impression on Pep Guardiola, prompting a £45 million switch to the Etihad Stadium the following summer.
Silva as outstanding during the record-breaking 2019 title-winning campaign, masking the absence of Kevin De Bruyne who sidelined for much of the season.
Bruno Fernandes
A recent arrival to the Premier League but the midfielder has already made a huge impression since £67m move from Sporting Lisbon to Manchester United last January.
Fernandes transformed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s struggling side, inspiring an upturn in form that eased the pressure on the manager and helped steer the club to a third-place finish and. place in this season’s Champions League.