Man United's 2012/13 Title-Winners - Where Are They Now?

Manchester United look all set to mount a serious challenge for the Premier League title this season for the first time since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson.

In differing circumstances to how neighbours Manchester City snatched the title away from the Red Devils the year prior, United had it all wrapped up on the final day, which subsequently saw United field a much-weakened lineup away at West Bromwich Albion.

This not only paved way to an all-time Premier League classic which saw 10 goals in a 5-5 draw, but the bowing out of the greatest ever manager also.

So what happened to the United team that started that day and where are they now?

Despite being backup to David De Gea for much of his time at Old Trafford, Anders Lindegaard made 10 appearances during the 2012/13 season which ultimately led him to get his hands on a Premier League medal.

It must be said that the Dane has been a second-choice goalkeeper for much of his career, accumulating only 168 appearances in nearly 18 years in professional football.

Lindegaard would join West Brom after United, then Preston North End, then move to Burnley and he wouldn't make a single league appearance with the Clarets. Now, Lindegaard is a little closer to home as he currently resides in Sweden with Helsingborg, where he plays more often.

Phil Jones was predicted to be one of United's greatest ever players by Ferguson, and by many others as a future England captain.

Despite this, the former Blackburn Rovers man has had a torrid time over the last few years at United, making just 165 Premier League appearances for United across nine and a half seasons and doesn't even get in a matchday squad with them at the minute.

It is easy to forget that Jones is still only 28, but it is difficult to see his Premier League career continuing with his recent injury record and performances to go by.

A move to the Championship seems more likely and one that might see Jones get regular game time.

Evans, a player which many United fans were sad to see go under Louis van Gaal, has carved out a solid and consistent playing career in the Premier League by racking up 312 appearances between three clubs.

Firstly, he left to join West Brom in 2015, and then onto Leicester City, where he has featured regularly for a few years, helping them in recent title challenges.

Not only is Evans the only player on this list still playing Premier League football, but he is also part of one of the more impressive centre half partnerships in the league. A partnership which if continues to flourish, could see Leicester rejoin Europe’s elite come to the end of the season.

Antonio Valencia played most of his career under Sir Alex Ferguson as a winger after arriving from Wigan Athletic, but the Ecuadorian found more consistent appearances to come by in his role as a right-back, coincidently where he started the 5-5 draw with West Brom.

Valencia played 40 times during the 2012/13 season scoring one and assisting eight. Since leaving Old Trafford, Valencia returned to his native Ecuador where he joined LDU Quito for a season, and after being released by Quito, the 35-year-old returned to football with Querétaro FC this month who play in the top division in Mexico.

The United legend would also win the Copa Ecuador with Quito.

Büttner was given a start in the 5-5 against West Brom and subsequently scored United’s third on the day to put them 3-0 up.

The Dutchman signed with the view of eventually replacing the ageing Patrice Evra, but he never really took off at Old Trafford and his career trajectory has highlighted him to be out of his depth during his time in Manchester.

Büttner has since had spells in five different countries with Anderlecht, Dynamo Moscow, Vitesse, New England Revolution, and currently, Apol. Limassol in Cyprus.

It's fair to say this was quite a bizarre signing, despite scoring a wondergoal on his debut.

Big things were expected of Anderson when he joined from FC Porto for as a 19-year-old, but it just never quite materialised for the Brazilian on a consistent basis at Old Trafford.

Anderson played 105 times and won the Champions League and four Premier League titles during his eight-year spell in Manchester.

In 2015 Anderson returned to his native Brazil at Internacional and then onto Coritiba FC. A brief spell in Turkey followed with Adana Demirspor where Anderson consequently retired in the summer of 2019.

The Mexican international was a vital clog in the squad during his playing career at United, often playing a similar role to the current United boss, Ole Gunnar Solksjaer, in a role as a super sub.

A second half hat-trick away at Aston Villa was a highlight during his 2012/13 season and one that contributed to a vital step towards the title. Spells at Bayer Leverkusen, Real Madrid West Ham United, Sevilla and now LA Galaxy have followed, as he never really continued his crucial importance with Sir Alex Ferguson.

Hernandez was a cult hero at United and is still missed by fans today. A true United great.

Michael Carrick, possibly the most underrated England player of the golden generation, won everything on offer to him under Sir Alex Ferguson and accumulated up 481 Premier League appearances in doing so.

Carrick has continued to work for United beyond his playing career and is learning his trade as a coach under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, working alongside Kieron Mckenna and his former coach, Mike Phelan. The Englishman might just go onto be another one of that infamous golden generation to step into a management role in the coming years following in the footsteps of the likes of Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard.

Tom Cleverley is like Phil Jones in the way in which he never truly hit the heights set out for him when breaking into the United first team.

Cleverley, however, left United back in the summer of 2015 for Everton in search of playing time and he was the perfect examples of the 'Fergie effect', in the sense he became near useless without the Scot's leadership.

The midfielder would be sold to Everton, where things also didn't work out, so he moved to Watford in 2017, where he still plays today. With 13 England caps to his name, Cleverley finally looks to be playing consistently again after being blighted by injury in recent seasons.

He has played 21 Championship games this season scoring four goals.

Shinji Kagawa could not replicate the form he managed under Jurgen Klopp in the Bundesliga for Ferguson, but did become the first Asian player to score a Premier League hat-trick during the 2012/13 season in a 4-0 home win against Norwich City.

Two years after leaving, Kagawa rejoined Dortmund for a small fee, as it simply didn't work out for him without Ferguson. Spells at Beşiktaş and Real Zaragoza have followed but in truth, he has struggled to recapture the form that convinced United to fork out an initial £12million for his services.

At 31, Kagawa is with Greek giants PAOK and he hasn't represented Japan in two years.

Robin van Persie fired the Red Devils to the Premier League title in emphatic fashion netting 26 goals in 38 games for Ferguson in his first season. Two mediocre scoring seasons followed after Sir Alex’s retirement under both David Moyes and compatriot van Gaal, before van Persie left Old Trafford in the summer of 2015 for Fenerbahçe.

Van Persie continued to score goals at Fenerbahçe netting 25 goals in 57 Super Lig games before eventually moving back to Feyenoord where it all began for him.

Since van Persie’s retirement, he has been seen doing the odd bit of punditry for BT sport but has since returned to Feyenoord in a coaching role under former Sunderland manager Dick Advocaat.

By Harry Charlwood