Denis Irwin - Manchester United's Best Ever Full Back?

Denis Irwin is a Manchester United legend and one of the most underrated full backs of the Premier League era.

Premier League stats (including Wolves)

• Appearances: 328
• Clean Sheets: 123
• Goals: 18
• Assist: 24 (Man Utd 22, Wolves 2)

Sir Alex Ferguson signed Irwin from Oldham in 1990 for a bargain £625k. In 512 games for Manchester United he returned 31 goals, 24 assists and was a huge part of the clubs success under Fergie.

Irwin was the perfect full back. He had pace, intelligence, great positional awareness, was comfortable with both feet, could read the game brilliantly, had solid tackling and he chipped in with plenty of goals. He could alternate playing left back or right back with ease and he seemed so natural in those positions.

The man from Cork was known for his incredible accuracy from set-pieces and scored some magnificent goals. Throughout his Manchester United career, he took 13 penalties and scored 11 of those. A success rate of 85%. The defender only missed 2 penalties in his time at United however one of which he actually managed to score the rebound.

Denis Irwin was ‘Mr Reliable’ and was a perfect professional. He was quiet off the field and put in solid performances every time he took to the pitch. Sir Alex Ferguson once said; "Now there was a player, Denis Irwin. We always called him ‘eight out of ten Denis’. So quick and nimble: quick-brained. Never let you down." Fergie always had nothing but high praise for the full back.