From Saint To Red Devil: Morgan Schneiderlin.

A Dutchman, an Italian, a German and now a Frenchman have created their very own European Union by signing for Manchester United. Last season the signings had a South American flair to it, but this summer Louis van Gaal has brought in talent from a lot closer to home.

Morgan Schneiderlin's move to United continues the long line of French talent to have graced the Theatre of Dreams. The midfielder has joined United on a four-year deal with an initial fee of around £24m.

One benefit of his signing is that he has the valuable experience of English football from his seven years playing at Southampton which have included stints not only in the Premier League but also both the Championship and League 1, add to that he is 25 years old, therefore United have signed a player coming into the prime of his career.

Schneiderlin was born in 1989 in Zellwiller, France and began his route to Old Trafford at RC Strasbourg aged only seven years old and progressed through their youth system finally making his debut eleven years later in 2006. After being groomed so long by the club he would only make a handful of appearances before being sold as his team were relegated from Ligue 1 at the end of the 2007-08 season.

His next port of call was Southampton joining them in the summer of 2008 for a fee of £1.2m. At the time, Southampton were in The Championship of the Football League and struggling with finance and fighting relegation. The manager at that time was Jan Poortvliet and he built a young side until he departed in January of Morgan's first season.

Worse was to come for the Saints as they were deducted 10 points as the owning company went into administration which guaranteed relegation to League One. Even with all the vultures surrounding the club Schneiderlin stuck with them.

It took Southampton three years and four managers to climb back to the Premier League and Schneiderlin was a huge influence on that success and was awarded for his loyalty with a new three-year contract in 2011.

Once back in the Premier League the Frenchman started to blossom as a midfielder and started to make bigger clubs sit up and take notice of his quality, however, he decided to stay at St.Mary's by extending his contract to 2017.

Not known for his goalscoring exploits, in 230 appearances for Southampton he only managed 14 goals, Morgan did manage to score against his future employers in a 3-2 loss to United at the beginning of the 2012-13 season. He performed at such a high, consistent level that season he was honoured as the Saints player of the year by both his colleagues and fans alike.

The following campaign, he made a total of 37 appearances as Southampton finally started to compete well in the Premier League, but they still found it difficult to hold on to their young, talented players and the likes of Luke Shaw departed for a chance of glory at bigger clubs.

In April 2015, Morgan received an injury that would keep him out for the remainder of the season and mean that he had played his last game as a Saint. Many suitors came calling for his services, including Spurs and Liverpool but it was the Red Devils who got their man and as in his own words 'Once I learned that United was interested in signing me, it was a very easy decision to make.'

His signing was announced along with the quality signing of Bastian Schweinsteiger and the new midfield of United is starting to take on a formidable shape add to that existing reds Carrick, Mata, Herrera, Fellaini & Co. next season promises to be an exciting campaign.

United have captured a player with a high work rate and natural ability a player who relishes a battle in the middle of the park and is not afraid to get stuck into tackles and his skills should aid the other players around him. How van Gaal will juggle the talent he has at his disposal only he knows, but it will certainly offer United positive options to choose from.

On a cautionary note Schneiderlin does seem to have a bad habit of getting his name taken by referees for example, in the last four seasons, he has received a total of 32 yellow cards, but only 1 red, which means he will have to tread carefully at United.

On the international front, Morgan has represented France at all levels and made his debut for the full squad against Jamaica in 2014 and was taken to the World Cup finals after originally being on standby. He made only one appearance in the tournament in Brazil and has to date played nine times for the 'Les Bleus'.

On a side note, before he played for the full international side there were rumours that he could, in fact, represent England as he had earned a British citizenship but it wasn't to be.

Welcome to Manchester Morgan and the best of luck.

Miles Dunton.

Man United's French Connection.

Manchester United have gone ahead with the purchase of Morgan Schneiderlin from Southampton and he will be joining a French Legion of players that have graced Old Trafford.

It all began with 'Le Roi' Eric Cantona, who was a chance purchase by Alex Ferguson in 1992. While overhearing a telephone conversation between then United chairman Martin Edwards and his Leeds United counterpart who was making enquiries about United full-back Denis Irwin, Ferguson declined their advances for the Irish defender but told Edwards to ask about the availability of their troubled French star Cantona.

Within days the deal was done and a beaming Ferguson paraded his new signing to the world media telling them that Old Trafford was the stage on which Cantona was made to play on, and how right he would be proved to be.

The talisman of the team from his debut in 1992 right up until his retirement in 1997. A Premier League champion in all his seasons at United except the one in which he had to serve an eight-month ban and a double winner twice.

Fans to this day still honour his achievements for the club by singing his name at matches both home and away even though it has been almost twenty years since he left. A true testament to a legend and the love goes both ways as Cantona has often said that his heart is still at Manchester United.

'1966 was a great year for English football. Cantona was born'

The next Frenchman to join United was full back Mikaël Silvestre who joined the club in September 1999 and immediately gained the respect of the Old Trafford faithful when it was clear that he had rejected an offer from Liverpool for his services. Ironically, he made his debut against Liverpool.

Silvestre was a classy defender who could play at left-back or in the middle of the defence and would make almost 250 appearances for the Red Devils over nine years. In that time, he won five league titles, an FA Cup,  a League Cup and a Champions League winners medal in 2008 although he was an unused substitute.

Never one to give up Silvestre had to battle through long absences due to injuries and along with the challenges for his position from Heinze and fellow countryman Evra but he persevered and that commitment endeared him to the fans.

Following the retirement of treble winning goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel the hunt was on to find his replacement a task that would prove extremely hard to fulfill. One man who tried was Fabien Barthez who joined the team in 2000 and quickly realised that he had a huge task on his hands to literally try and fill the big gloves vacated by Schmeichel.

Barthez had enjoyed success with France at the World Cup and The Euros, but was well known as an eccentric keeper which he showed many times between the sticks for United especially when he would let United defender and best friend Laurent Blanc kiss his bald head before the start of matches. Having said that he did end up as a champion in his debut season, pulling off some fabulous saves which ensured United won many matches.

The following season wasn't so good for Barthez as he was blamed for making too many unforced errors in matches one game, in particular, was against Arsenal when he had a nightmare and allowed his countryman Henry to score two goals that were basically gift wrapped for him.

At the end of his final season, 2002/03, he and United finished as champions, but Ferguson had had enough of Barthez and the mistakes he was making, this was highlighted in the match against Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final second leg when Brazilian Ronaldo scored a hat trick. This was a match in which the keeper received criticism from all quarters and, in fact, that would be his last game for United.

Barthez was joined at United by his friend Laurent Blanc who joined in 2001 after Jaap Stam had been sold to Lazio by Ferguson after a bust-up over the Dutchman's comments in his autobiography.

A central defender who oozed class and valuable experience, Blanc had the United fans raising their eyebrows due to his advanced years, he was 35 when he signed for United.

After helping United to the title in 2003 his legs finally gave up and he retired from playing to focus on management and I wouldn't be surprised if he will be in the running for the hot seat at Old Trafford sometime in the future.

Louis Saha's United career was blighted by injuries, but when he was fit he certainly knew how to score goals. Saha was transferred to United for a fee of £12.4 million in January 2004 having scored 15 goals already that season for Fulham. His United career got off to a similar start by scoring seven goals in just ten matches.

The following season was the start of his injury woes, especially to his knee then his hamstring. When fit he started a partnership with Ruud van Nistelrooy and then the teenage Wayne Rooney.

In 2006, a fully fit Saha was among the goals again and was on a roll. However, the injury jinx returned.

When he returned for the last time Ferguson had a built a forward line around Rooney, Tevez and a certain Ronaldo so Saha played mainly from the bench, but when called upon he did his job. His United career ended when he was sold to Everton in 2008.

A quality striker and his love for United was plain to see, it was only the injuries that held him back. During his time at United, he won two Premier League medals and a League Cup.

Possibly the second most popular French signing behind Monsieur Cantona was Patrice Evra who was brought to Man United from AS Monaco for a fee of £5.5 million in January 2006. Evra took his time to settle at the club making his debut in a 3-1 defeat to Manchester City. So poor was his performance in that match Fergie took him off at half-time.

Fast forward eight years and the Frenchman left United having won almost everything in the game. The only trophy to elude him was the FA Cup. Probably his greatest achievement was winning the double of the Premier League and Champions League in 2008.

At left-back, Evra became an important cog in United's defence, forming an uncanny understanding at the back with Ferdinand and Vidic which was the rock that Fergie built his last great teams on. Evra had the honour of captaining United on many occasions and did so with a great gusto.

It was a sad day when he departed for Juventus as I'm sure he still had plenty of playing time in him and judging by our current defence his leadership and defensive awareness are certainly being missed.

Paul Pogba would have been included had he only stayed at United longer, but as great a talent as he is now he only had a fleeting moment at the club, but you never know what the future will hold.

Last but not least the trio of 'Les Miserables' William Prunier, Gabriel Obertan and David Bellion.......only kidding.

So there you have it the French stars that have lit up our great club and Morgan Schneiderlin has his work cut out holding up the honour of his fellow countrymen.

Thanks for reading and au revoir.

Miles Dunton.