It was never going to be easy for any player to replace Roy Keane at Manchester United. The Irishman was about to turn 32, which in football terms was a lot older then than it is now, so it made sense that Sir Alex Ferguson was actively looking for his eventual successor. The Reds had been linked with a host of midfielders, but it was Eric Djemba-Djemba who signed for the club in the summer of 2003.
At the time, the 23-year-old, in the words of Ferguson, had all the qualities necessary to become a star at Old Trafford. He was part of the Cameroon squad that qualified for the World Cup and won the Africa Cup of Nations in 2002. He had a good pedigree and was expected to be part of the United midfield for many years to come.
Upon Djemba-Djemba's arrival at Old Trafford, Ferguson said: "Eric is a young player we've watched throughout the season, and he's impressed us each time with his understanding of the game. He's quick, aggressive and a good passer of the ball, and is the kind of athletic footballer we are looking for. In the last few months he has shown his development playing in a very good Cameroon team, and he looks like a Manchester United player in every sense."
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The Cameroon midfielder had impressed with Nantes in France, and was well-known for his ability to quickly win back possession for his team. With United having spent £3.5million to secure his services, Djemba-Djemba was under pressure to deliver. His first game - which came against Arsenal in the 2003 Community Shield - was a chance to impress against one of the club's biggest rivals.
It didn't take him long to earn the favour of both Ferguson and his United teammates, albeit via a very clumsy altercation with Sol Campbell. He had started the game on the bench but came on to replace Nicky Butt in the centre of the park in the 61st minute, alongside Keane.
During the second half, Djemba-Djemba attempted to flick the ball goalwards. However, he accidently left his studs up in the air, which connected with the onrushing Campbell in a rather painful spot. Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger called it "obscene", but the United cohort loved what they had seen from the debutant.
"My first game in England came in the Community Shield in 2003 against Arsenal. We won the game on penalties but I remember it mainly because of my tackle on Sol Campbell," Djemba-Djemba told Ladbrokes. "Later on in the season Sol spoke to me about it during another match against them."
Djemba-Djemba quotes Campbell as saying: "What were you thinking? You just came to the Premier League and you hit me like that?"
He added: "I told him what was going through my head at the time, and it was true, I just wanted to get the ball but he was too fast for me. He got there before me and so I ended up tackling him the way I did. I never meant anything by it, but that was basically me announcing myself in England.
"All of the Manchester United fans loved it. Everybody was laughing about it in our dressing room afterwards; everyone was happy. Rio Ferdinand told me it was a good thing, what I'd done. He loved it. Sir Alex Ferguson was also so happy in the dressing room. They wanted me to continue like that."
While Wenger was fuming, Ferguson was delighted. The fact that his new midfielder was willing to stand up to the club's biggest rivals at the time was a good sign for the Scot.
"There was nothing obscene about it," said Ferguson. "He [Wenger] is just trying to save Sol Campbell. There's always an excuse involved."
The Cameroon star had made a good start to his United career, and it got even better when he registered an assist on his Premier League debut against Bolton. Djemba-Djemba went on to start the next three Premier League games - helping United pick up wins over Newcastle and Wolves - but other players were returning and the midfielder soon found himself out of the team.
He struggled to regain his spot in the side, and that, unfortunately for Djemba-Djemba, proved to the case for the next 18 months at Old Trafford. The midfielder, despite starting brightly, found it difficult to maintain a period of sustained form, and was ultimately unable to establish himself as a player capable of eventually succeeding the ageing Keane in the centre of the United's midfield.
In his 39 appearances with the Reds, the midfielder was only on the scoresheet twice. One of his goals was a relatively straightforward finish in a 5-0 thrashing over Greek side Panathinaikos in the Champions League, but his other - a looping volley against bitter rivals Leeds United in the League Cup - was truly memorable.
With just three minutes left of extra time, and the scores level at 2-2, Djemba-Djemba found himself on the end of a Quinton Fortune corner. The Cameroon international hit it first time, with his strike looping over Leeds goalkeeper Paul Robinson to send United into the next round.
Djemba-Djemba won the Community Shield and FA Cup with the Reds, but he ultimately had very little else to celebrate during his time with United. The man who had arrived as a potential successor for Keane was sold to Aston Villa in January 2005, for a fee of £1.5million.
"It was difficult," Djemba-Djemba told The Sun in 2018. "I was 22, I came from France and I went straight into a team that was one of the biggest in the world. There was a lot of pressure, and Roy Keane was a man. Everybody listened to him.
"At the beginning it was good, I played matches because Keane was injured. But when he came back, it was hard for me. Sometimes I played with him, sometimes with Paul Scholes or with Darren Fletcher."
Much like at United, the Cameroonian's time at Aston Villa was rather underwhelming. On the pitch, he made just 11 appearances. Off the pitch, a Birmingham court declared him bankrupt in September 2007, despite the player reportedly earning £75,000 a month during his time with the Reds.
While his time at both United and Villa had not gone to plan, Djemba-Djemba still reflected on his time in England with real pride. He had played for two of the biggest clubs in the country, and no one can ever take that away from him.
"I have no regrets about anything in my career. You realise it is football and God decides everything," he told The Guardian in 2013. "I was happy to be playing for Manchester, happy to be winning titles, happy the way they treat me.
"And I have no regrets about going to Aston Villa, it was the choice of God, that's it. When you are young you can do some mistakes: for me, I never regret my mistakes... it was my dream come true - Manchester United. My hero was Eric Cantona. Everybody called me it until now - when I go back in my country, they call me Cantona."
Djemba-Djemba, clearly, didn't become the next Keane, or Cantona for that matter. Yet, he still enjoyed a good career. He went on to play in Qatar, Denmark, Israel, Serbia, India and Indonesia, won major trophies at international and club level and, importantly, never lost his love for football.
Ferguson was previously keen to admit that the signing of the Cameroonian was not actually his worst bit of transfer business. That honour, instead, went to Ralph Milne.
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