During his legendary tenure at Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson didn't get much wrong in the transfer market - but it's fair to say that the signing of Kleberson back in 2003 was one that didn't work out.
The Brazilian midfielder arrived at Old Trafford as a World Cup winner back, so unsurprisingly, United fans had high hopes for their new acquisition - but Kleberson, who turns 43 today, failed to live up to them.
And it wasn't just the fans who were left frustrated by the midfield flop during his uninspiring spell in the Premier League. He his lacklustre performances irked a host of his teammates; including United's fiery former captain Roy Keane, who was once left so frustrated by the ex-Besiktas man that he tore into him after a Champions League game.
Another former United midfield flop, Eric Djemba-Djemba, lifted the lid on the feisty exchange back in 2020. He told Bettingapps : "Roy Keane had a right go at Kleberson! Kleberson looked like he didn't want to play with his body language, and wanted to play slowly.
"I remember one Champions League game at Old Trafford, we went into the dressing room and Roy Keane was screaming at him! He said 'You need to wake-up! You need to give everything, you need to tackle! Why don't you want to want to play? You just won The World Cup! What's happened? You need to play better!'
"It was definitely scary for Kleberson. He was always smiling, and was still smiling when Keane had a go at him, which would have made Keane even more angry."
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Kleberson may have found it funny, but it was no laughing matter for some United players. Former utility man Phil Neville went as far as to even namedrop Kleberson as one of the reason's he left United, arguing that if he couldn't get in the team ahead of him, then he had to leave.
And the former England man even had it out with Ferguson over his spot in the team before he made the decision to move on to Everton back in 2015.
Neville previously told the BBC : "At the end I was really frustrated. It was probably in my last 18 months, where playing once every two or three weeks, or once every two or three games was not enough for me.
"I was 27, 28, I'd accepted it for much of my career with great players around me. Then we had a few players that came in like Kleberson, Djemba-Djemba, and they started to play in front of me, and that was a real wake-up call for me, that I wasn't going to accept anymore.
"I spoke to Sir Alex. We both found it difficult, and agreed that it was probably best for me as an individual was to leave. It took a lot because United was my club, but I think it was the best thing that I did."
Despite his disastrous displays, Kleberson lasted two years at Old Trafford - although he only made 20 appearances during that time. The £6.5million man only mustered two goals and was offloaded to Besiktas in the summer of 2005.
The man himself admits that he failed to do himself justice, and he revealed that he struggled to adapt to United's game after his move to England.
Speaking to The Manchester Evening News back in 2019, Kleberson said: “In my time at United, there was a great team with world class players. I came with a lot of change in the team, there was five or six new players and the club were losing a couple of good players. We came in strong mentally to try and help the team, and of course we were doing well, then the team is doing well; players adapt to this and bring their best performance."
He added: “When the team isn’t doing well, it’s hard to change your style, I couldn’t do it, when I came to Man United I tried to change the player I was, more passes, more aggression, more tackles, but it’s too hard and wasn’t what my game was about.
“From 17 to 24 years old, I was playing that fluent Brazilian style, to move the ball quickly and receive it in space. At Man United I had tough moments a lot of the time, I got a lot of injuries and struggled a lot. It was a difficult time, and when you see a lot of evaluation from your performance at top teams the criticism can be very high, particularly at Man United.”
