The criteria was simple: the player in question had to have been recruited from overseas, before they became an established star, and for a relatively modest fee.
That ruled out such high-profile names like Cristiano Ronaldo, who was acquired from Sporting Lisbon thanks to a record fee for a teenager, or Eric Cantona and Peter Schmeichel – who were both already prominent internationals for their respective countries.
Our shortlist included suggestions such as Javier Hernandez, Ronny Johnsen and, of course, our current manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
But former Reds winger Ben Thornley was keen to eulogise about Andrei Kanchelskis – the rapid Russian winger we signed from Shakhtar Donetsk in 1991.