United fans all smiles again
Indeed, you have to go back into the mists of the Sexton era to find a purchase of this calibre that also had the benefit of being filched from a genuine top-notch rival.
I don’t count 1995’s Andy Cole, because Newcastle never actually won anything, and were essentially fly-by-nighters. So my nomination is Gary Birtles, from Forest, in 1980: big money, right age, proven goalscorer, and from a club that had just won back-to-back European Cups. Remind me, how did that turn out again...ah.