All Players Who Played for Both Man United and Bayern Munich

1. Mark Hughes

• Manchester United: 1983-1986 and 1988-1995 (Apps: 467 | Goals: 163) | Bayern Munich: 1987-1988 (Loan) (Apps: 23 | Goals: 7)

Mark Hughes is easily missed when compiling this list because his time at Bayern came more than three decades ago.

The Welsh forward had already established himself at Manchester United before leaving for Barcelona in 1986. His first season in Spain did not go as planned, and Barcelona sent him to Bayern on loan for the 1987/88 campaign.

Hughes adapted well to German football, scoring seven times in 23 appearances. His spell also produced one of the more unusual stories of his career. In November 1987, he played for Wales in Prague before travelling to Munich and appearing as a substitute for Bayern later that day.

He returned to Old Trafford in 1988 and became a key player during the early years of Sir Alex Ferguson’s rebuild. Across his two United spells, Hughes scored 163 goals in 467 games and won two Premier League titles, three FA Cups and the European Cup Winners’ Cup.

2. Owen Hargreaves

• Bayern Munich: 2000-2007 (Apps: 218 | Goals: 10) | Manchester United: 2007-2011 (Apps: 39 | Goals: 2)

Owen Hargreaves joined Bayern’s youth system after growing up in Canada and went on to spend seven seasons with the first team.

His breakthrough came during Bayern’s 2000/01 Champions League campaign. Hargreaves started both legs of the semi-final against Real Madrid and played the entire final as Bayern defeated Valencia on penalties.

Manchester United spent around £17 million to sign him in 2007. When fit, Hargreaves gave Sir Alex Ferguson several options: he could play in central midfield, on the right or at full-back.

His first season ended with a Premier League and Champions League double. Hargreaves also scored in the penalty shootout against Chelsea in Moscow.

That first year proved to be his only sustained run at United. Serious knee problems limited him to 39 appearances across four seasons, but he remains the only player to win the Champions League with both Bayern and Manchester United.

3. Bastian Schweinsteiger

• Bayern Munich: 2002-2015 (Apps: 500 | Goals: 68) | Manchester United: 2015-2017 (Apps: 35 | Goals: 2)

Bastian Schweinsteiger spent almost his entire peak at Bayern Munich. He started as a wide midfielder before moving into the centre, where his passing range and control of the game became central to Bayern’s success.

He reached 500 appearances for the club and collected eight Bundesliga titles. The high point came in 2012/13, when Bayern won the Bundesliga, German Cup and Champions League treble.

Louis van Gaal brought Schweinsteiger to Manchester United in 2015. He became the first German to play for the club and made 31 appearances in his debut season, which ended with United winning the FA Cup.

Injuries and a change of manager reduced his role. José Mourinho initially left him out of the first-team group before recalling him later in the 2016/17 season.

Schweinsteiger left for Chicago Fire in March 2017. His United spell was brief and never reached the level of his Bayern years, but he remained well liked by the Old Trafford crowd.

4. Daley Blind

• Manchester United: 2014-2018 (Apps: 141 | Goals: 6) | Bayern Munich: 2023 (Apps: 5 | Goals: 0)

Daley Blind joined Manchester United from Ajax in 2014 after working with Louis van Gaal at the World Cup.

Blind lacked the pace normally associated with a Premier League defender, but his positioning and passing made him useful in several roles. He played at left-back, centre-back and in defensive midfield, making 141 appearances over four seasons.

He started the 2017 Europa League final as United beat Ajax and also won the FA Cup and League Cup during his time in England.

Blind returned to Ajax in 2018 and did not join Bayern until January 2023. His six-month stay in Munich brought only five appearances, although it ended with a Bundesliga winner’s medal after Bayern took the title from Borussia Dortmund on the final day.

5. Marcel Sabitzer

• Bayern Munich: 2021-2023 (Apps: 54 | Goals: 2) | Manchester United: 2023 (Loan) (Apps: 18 | Goals: 3)

Marcel Sabitzer moved from RB Leipzig to Bayern in 2021 but struggled to secure a regular place in midfield. He made 54 appearances, many of them from the bench, before Manchester United offered him a temporary route out.

United signed Sabitzer on loan in January 2023 after Christian Eriksen suffered an ankle injury. The deal was completed late on deadline day and did not include an option to buy.

The Austrian played 18 times and scored three goals. Two of those came against Sevilla in the first leg of a Europa League quarter-final, although United allowed a two-goal lead to slip before losing the return match in Spain.

A knee injury ended Sabitzer’s season early. United chose not to make the transfer permanent, and he joined Borussia Dortmund a few months later.

6. Matthijs de Ligt

• Bayern Munich: 2022-2024 (Apps: 73 | Goals: 5) | Manchester United: 2024-Present (Apps: 56 | Goals: 3)

Bayern signed Matthijs de Ligt from Juventus in 2022. The Dutch centre-back played regularly in his first season and produced one of his best Bayern moments against Paris Saint-Germain, clearing Vitinha’s shot off the line in the Champions League.

He finished his two-year stay with 73 appearances and one Bundesliga title.

Manchester United signed De Ligt in August 2024, reuniting him with former Ajax manager Erik ten Hag. He made 42 appearances and scored twice in his first season, although injury ruled him out of the Europa League final against Tottenham.

De Ligt began the following campaign as a first-choice defender, but a back injury kept him out for an extended period and eventually required surgery. He had reached 56 United appearances by the end of 2025/26.

7. Noussair Mazraoui

• Bayern Munich: 2022-2024 (Apps: 55 | Goals: 1) | Manchester United: 2024-Present (Apps: 78 | Goals: 0)

Noussair Mazraoui joined Bayern on a free transfer from Ajax in 2022. He played 55 times across two seasons, usually at right-back but occasionally on the opposite side.

He and De Ligt then moved to Manchester United on the same day in August 2024.

Mazraoui quickly became one of United’s most frequently used players. He made 57 appearances in his first season and covered almost every position across the defence. At one stage, Ruben Amorim even used him as a number 10.

His performances earned him second place in the club’s 2024/25 Players’ Player of the Year vote, behind Bruno Fernandes. By the end of his second season, Mazraoui had made 78 appearances for United.

8. Joshua Zirkzee

• Bayern Munich: 2019-2022 (Apps: 17 | Goals: 4) | Manchester United: 2024-Present (Apps: 75 | Goals: 9)

Joshua Zirkzee joined Bayern’s academy in 2017, but his competitive first-team record stands at 17 appearances rather than the larger totals sometimes listed by databases that include reserve or youth football.

He made his senior debut against Tottenham in December 2019. A week later, Zirkzee came off the bench and scored with one of his first touches against Freiburg. He repeated the trick against Wolfsburg in Bayern’s next match.

Zirkzee was part of the squad that won the treble in 2019/20, although Robert Lewandowski’s presence left little room for another striker. After loans at Parma and Anderlecht, he joined Bologna permanently in 2022.

Manchester United signed him from the Italian club two years later. There have been occasional flashes, including a brace against Everton and important goals against Crystal Palace and Wolves. They have been isolated moments rather than signs of sustained progress.

Zirkzee has also failed to establish himself as a regular starter, with other forwards moving ahead of him in the pecking order. So far, his lack of goals, limited penalty-area threat and inconsistent influence have made his Manchester United spell an underwhelming one.