What Happened to 8 Man Utd Stars Upset With Solskjaer in 2021

As of January 2025, it looks as though Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could return to the Manchester United dugout to replace Ruben Amorim as head coach. The Portuguese boss lost his job this week, and the Red Devils appear ready to bring in a caretaker manager to oversee things until the end of the season.

Solskjaer worked at Old Trafford between 2018 and 2021, and helped bring a period of excitement to the club with his good vibes, before things eventually deteriorated. He was sacked in November 2021 after a 4-1 defeat at Watford, having won just one of their past seven Premier League matches.

One issue he appeared to struggle with was sqaud management. Just weeks before he was sacked, it was reported that he broke promises to a number of Man Utd stars about game time that would be afforded to them, having accepted during meetings over the summer that he had “overplayed” key players during the previous campaign.

Further claims said that these fringe players were left even angrier after they voiced their concerns during the season, but saw no change despite a poor run of results. As a result, a number of stars felt ‘misled’ by Solskjaer.

Looking back, it’s interesting to see what has become of those eight players.

Diogo Dalot

Diogo Dalot is the only player from the unhappy bunch to still be at Man United all these years later. He hadn’t long been at the club when Solskjaer took over, joining in 2018 under Jose Mourinho. Even when the new manager came in, Dalot kept his place in the team initially, but was then dropped after the arrival of Aaron Wan-Bissaka.

The right-back was loaned to AC Milan for 2020/21 but managed to impress Solskjaer in pre-season next summer, earning a return to the team. In the years since, he’s been a fairly trusted option for both Erik ten Hag and Amorim. For example, in 2025/26 so far, he has played in all but two Premier League games (only missing those through injury).

Donny van de Beek

Donny van de Beek arrived in the summer from Ajax of 2020 for £35m, but started only four Premier League matches in his debut season. If Solskjaer did offer him more game time in the next campaign, it was a lie, with the Dutchman failing to start a single league match.

Replacement managers Michael Carrick and Ralf Rangnick didn’t fancy Van de Beek either, and he was then loaned out to Everton in January 2022. Even when returning to the club to link up with former Ajax boss Erik ten Hag, the midfielder didn’t impress. He was loaned to Eintracht Frankfurt before being sold at a cut-price fee to current club Girona.

Anthony Martial

Anthony Martial had been at Man United for a number of years before Solskjaer came in, and actually signed a new five-year contract at the end of the manager’s first season with the club. But having scored 17 league goals in 2019/20, he then followed that up with just four strikes the next season.

Injury issues were partly to blame as Solskjaer steadily lost faith. The Frenchman failed to score in the Norwegian’s final season, and he was loaned out to Sevilla in 2022 before joining current side Monterrey in 2025, after a single term with AEK Athens.

Jesse Lingard

Jesse Lingard actually scored twice during Man Utd’s first game with Solskjaer in charge as interim boss, netting in a 5-1 win over Cardiff. But he couldn’t get into the team on a regular basis as time went on, leading to his incredibly fruitful loan spell with West Ham.

The Englishman scored nine goals and grabbed five assists in 16 games for the Hammers, but decided to return to Old Trafford that summer. Once more, Solskjaer didn’t trust him with regular minutes and Lingard would eventually leave in 2022. He flopped at Nottingham Forest before joining FC Seoul in 2024. The 33-year-old is currently without a club.

Dean Henderson

Admittedly, Dean Henderson was always going to struggle with David de Gea in as the first-team goalkeeper role, but the Spaniard’s form did start to wobble during the latter stages of his time at Man Utd. Solskjaer was unwavering in his support for the Spaniard, though.

Henderson impressed on loan at the likes of Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest and opted to leave permanently for Crystal Palace in 2023. Considering the goalkeeping issues United have had since, they may regret Solskjaer’s treatment of the English goalkeeper – especially as he’s helped deliver an FA Cup for the Eagles.

Eric Bailly

Eric Bailly joined the Red Devils in 2016 and was in and out of the team throughout, due to fitness struggles and inconsistent performances. The most games he played for Solskjaer in a single league campaign was capped at just 12 appearances.

After the Norwegian was sacked, Bailly fell even further out of the reckoning and was loaned to Marseille in 2022. He then joined Besiktas a year later before moving to Villarreal in 2023. As of 2026, he is still playing in Spain, but now turns out for Real Oviedo.

Juan Mata

Juan Mata may well have had the most impressive career out of all the names on the list, winning the FA Cup, League Cup, and Europa League during his time at Old Trafford. Joining from Chelsea in 2014, by the time Solskjaer came in, his powers were waning a little.

With the Spaniard ageing, his game time began to regularly diminish. In 2020/21, he played just nine times in the league. Mata lasted just one more season in England before heading abroad to enjoy spells with Galatasaray, Vissel Kobe, Western Sydney Wanderers, and Melbourne Victory. Now 37, he remains with the Australian club to this day.

Alex Telles

Alex Telles arrived from Porto during Solskjaer’s time in charge, but the 2020 signing never really did enough to cement his status as a first-choice option in the starting XI. He played 50 times, scoring just once, across as three year spell in England, although he was loaned out to Sevilla for one of those campaigns.

He left for Al-Nassr in 2023, for about half as much as Man Utd paid for him, and then joined Botafogo in his native Brazil one year later. Now 33, he is a regular for the Brazilian club.