Today marks the 15th anniversary of Dwight Yorke’s arrival at Manchester United, and what a signing he turned out to be.
On August 20th 1998, Dwight Yorke signed for Manchester United in a controversial deal worth £12.6 million. Aston Villa attempted to resist approaches from The Red Devils for their star man, but Yorke had his heart set on a move to Old Trafford.
The man from Trinidad & Tobago made no secret of his desire to leave Villa Park, and was unhappy at the club’s refusal to allow him to move on. However, Villa were left with no option but to sell Yorke when it appeared that he made little or no effort in a game against Everton and sulked his way through the match.
Yorke made an immediate impact on his home début for Alex Ferguson’s side, scoring two goals and winning over the Old Trafford faithful instantly. He would go on to score 29 goals in 51 appearances, as part of a Manchester United team that would go on to complete a feat that has become widely known as one of the most memorable season’s in English footballing history; The Treble.
He became United’s top goalscorer in the league with 18 goals after forging a formidable partnership with Andy Cole. Yorke & Cole were the dynamic duo at the heart of United’s success.
Yorke brought his goalscoring form with him throughout United’s memorable Champions League-winning run, with important goals against Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Inter Milan and Juventus.
Yorke was no one-season-wonder and continued to score goals at will in his second season, notching 22 in total in all competitions. He also would go on to make his 100th appearance in a Manchester United shirt exactly two years to the day that he first arrived.
Although the goals dried up to a certain extent, Yorke would win a third successive Premier League title under Alex Ferguson, while also scoring a memorable hat-trick in a titanic clash with Arsenal. Yorke scored three hat-tricks during his time at the club, and a total of 64 goals in 188 appearances. His time at Manchester United was laden with trophies and it is a period that has endeared him to Manchester United fans forever.
Check out this MUTV documentary of Yorke’s time at Manchester United.
Dwight Yorke Trophies Won At Manchester United:
Premier League x3
FA Cup x 1
Champions League x1
Intercontinental Cup x1
Sport Is Everything. Richard Barrett.
Featured Image By Deepti Soni (Flickr: Dwight Yorke in Chennai) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.