George Best still stands between Mark Hughes and Manchester United’s all-time greats

George Best still stands between Mark Hughes and Manchester United’s all-time greats.

On 17 July 2026, *The Athletic* published its definitive ranking of the club’s 25 greatest players. Mark Hughes, the two-time European Cup winner, sits 16th on that list with 467 appearances: sandwiched directly between George Best and Michael Carrick.

What happened?

In 1987, a 13-year-old fan waved a homemade “Sparky Come Home” banner on the Stretford End. Within a year, Hughes returned from Barcelona to Old Trafford. His second spell yielded 163 goals in 467 games, placing him ninth on United’s all-time scoring chart: right between Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes. Best’s name appears twice in the same breath: 16th for appearances, 15th for goals.

Why it matters for George Best

Best’s ghost still haunts United’s record books. Hughes’ 467th appearance came 17 years after Best’s final United game. The Northern Irish legend’s 77th-place finish in appearances and 17th in goals remain untouched in the modern era. Every time Hughes’ name is mentioned in United’s history, Best’s looms larger: a reminder of the standard set in the 1960s and 70s.

The Hughes legacy in one final

The 1991 Cup Winners’ Cup final in Rotterdam is Hughes’ signature moment. He scored twice in a 2-1 win over Johan Cruyff’s Dream Team. His second goal came from a near-impossible angle, a right-footed rocket that beat the keeper and two defenders racing back. “If I hadn’t hit it that hard, it would’ve been cleared,” Hughes told *The Athletic*.

Where George Best fits in the bigger picture

Hughes’ career spanned three decades and two distinct eras. Best’s peak ended in 1974; Hughes’ began in 1980. Yet the two men share the same statistical corridor. Best’s 77 goals in 470 games sit just above Hughes’ 17th-place finish. The Northern Irish icon’s shadow stretches across the club’s record books, a silent judge of every forward who followed.

Hughes left United for Barcelona in 1986 for a world-record £2 million fee. Nine months later, a teenager’s homemade banner helped bring him back. Best never needed a banner. He simply walked out of the tunnel and changed the game forever.