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Man United vs Aston Villa: Wayne Rooney or Eric Cantona, who is greater?

2 November 2026 · Footballers

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Manchester United host Aston Villa at Old Trafford on Sunday 8 November, on the last Premier League weekend before the November international break. Villa are one of only six English clubs to have won the European Cup, in 1982, and United have won it three times. So instead of predicting the score, we asked a question that never gets old at Old Trafford: who is the greatest United player of them all? The box above shows how the world splits today.

The closest call on the whole list is between two players who defined different eras. Wayne Rooney arrived as a teenager in 2004 and left as the club's all-time top scorer, with 253 goals, five league titles and the 2008 Champions League. Eric Cantona played only five seasons at United, but he turned a team that had waited 26 years for a league title into champions four times, then walked away from the game at 30. Today the world cannot separate them: it is level at 50% each.

Then there are the two names on the statue outside the ground. Bobby Charlton survived the Munich air disaster in 1958, won the World Cup with England in 1966 and captained United to the European Cup two years later. George Best scored in that 1968 final and won the Ballon d'Or the same year. The world leans to Charlton, 57% to 43%.

The two lists cross at one moment. Charlton held United's scoring record for more than four decades, with 249 goals, until Rooney curled in a free kick at Stoke in January 2017 to pass him. On the all-time ranking Charlton still sits higher, inside the world's top 25 footballers, while Rooney and Cantona stand side by side at the very edge of the top 50.

From the class of '92, David Beckham and Paul Scholes grew up together, won the 1999 treble together and could hardly be more different: one the most famous footballer on the planet, the other a midfielder who avoided cameras and collected eleven league titles. Beckham edges it, 53% to 47%.

There is a link between the two clubs too. Peter Schmeichel, captain on the night United won the 1999 Champions League final, finished his Premier League career at Villa, and in 2001 became the first goalkeeper to score in the competition, in a Villa shirt. And today's United captain, Bruno Fernandes, has already passed 100 goals for the club.

The world ranking of footballers is built from head-to-head picks, two players at a time, and it moves every day. If you think Cantona deserves to be clear of Rooney, the vote is open before Sunday's kick-off.

Vote: Wayne Rooney vs Eric Cantona

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