Do players thrive once they leave Man Utd or were club right to sell?

Scott McTominay - Serie A winner with Napoli. Jadon Sancho - Conference League winner with Chelsea. Dean Henderson - FA Cup winner with Crystal Palace.

There was a time when leaving Manchester United was viewed as the start of a slow decline in a player's career.

Is that still the case?

Wednesday's Conference League final saw two players, currently contracted to United, on opposite sides in the shape of Sancho, who has spent the season on loan at Chelsea, and Brazil winger Antony, who joined Real Betis on a temporary basis in January.

While United's bosses carry out an inquest into a disastrous 2024-25 campaign, Sancho ends the season with a European winners' medal after Chelsea's 4-1 victory in Wroclaw, Poland.

In addition, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Matteo Darmian - who have both spent time at United in recent years - could feature for Inter Milan when they face Paris St-Germain in Saturday's Champions Final in Munich.

So, does leaving Manchester United help revive your career given Sancho, Antony, and McTominay have all done well away from Old Trafford?

It is not that long ago that McTominay was a bit-part player at United - starting matches on the substitutes bench.

Last summer the Scotland wanted a change of scenery - and United wanted money to help them fit in with the Premier League's Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR).

The Lancaster-born player had been with United for over 20 years - first attending a soccer school at the club aged five - but made the bold decision to start again in Italy.

A fee of £25.7m looks an absolute bargain now.

No wonder his former boss at Old Trafford, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, recently told BBC Sport, "how you can sell Scott is beyond me".

McTominay's game stats have improved in almost all areas since he left Old Trafford to link up with former United team-mate Romelu Lukaku at Napoli.

He scored 13 times and provided four assists in 2,972 minutes on the pitch in 2024-25 compared to 10 goals and three assists in 2,772 minutes at United the previous season.

His passing accuracy has increased from 82.7% to 85%, while the chances he has created per game has also improved along with touches in the opposition box.

Former Scotland midfielder Paul Lambert told BBC Sport moving to Italy had been the making of McTominay.

"Leaving Manchester United... there's a perception that British football is the be-all-and-end-all," said Lambert, who won the Champions League as a player with Borussia Dortmund in 1997.

"It's not. Playing European football brings players on quicker. It makes you grow up quicker."

Then-United boss Erik ten Hag did not want to do the deal with Napoli for McTominay, according to BBC Sport chief football news reporter Simon Stone.

"From a Manchester United perspective, you really need to look beyond the deals themselves, understand why they happened - and focus in on the real issues," said Stone.

"The glaring one is Scott McTominay. Former boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer told me in Istanbul earlier this month that he could not get his head round why the Scotland international was sold.

"The rationale was simple. While Erik ten Hag didn't want to do the deal with Napoli, it was the only way to generate funds under PSR to bring in Manuel Ugarte.

"The theory was solid, the execution was wrong because Ugarte has not delivered what was anticipated."

Other examples of players flourishing away from Old Trafford include Antony.

The Brazil winger managed five goals in 62 Premier League appearances after joining United for £81.3m in 2022, before moving to Spain to sign for Real Betis in January after struggling for first-team opportunities.

Antony has since managed nine goals - five in La Liga and four in Europe - and is loving life again, despite finishing with a runners-up medal in the Conference League final.

"We saw a very cold guy at Manchester United, since Antony has gone to Betis and things have been working, we've seen him cry, we've see him laugh and Betis fans love that," said Spanish football journalist Guillem Balague.

Will Antony back at Old Trafford next season? Well, he remains under contract at United until 2027 although a permanent move to Betis could suit both parties.

"In Antony's case, there is not a single United fan who would argue the Brazilian should have been given more time," said Stone.

"The issue with Antony was the ridiculous fee paid for him."

Henderson, who found himself behind David de Gea in the pecking order, has also seen his career kick on since joining Palace in a £20m deal in August 2023 having been with United since the age of 14.

In the past 12 months he has made his first England start and helped deliver Palace a first major trophy after he saved Omar Marmoush's penalty in the 1-0 win over Manchester City in the FA Cup final.

While United have no European football to look forward to, Henderson will be playing in the Europa League next season.

And what about Anthony Elanga?

Like Henderson, he too will be playing on the continental stage with Nottingham Forest, whose seventh-placed finish has earned them a spot in the Conference League.

Sweden forward Elanga, who cost Forest just £15m from United in 2023, provided 11 Premier League assists and chipped in with a further six goals in 2024-25.

He had been with United since he was 12 and achieved a first-team breakthrough in 2021, reaching 55 appearances before Forest stepped in after Ten Hag decided Elanga did not have the quality needed to be enough of an influence on his squad.

De Gea, a Premier League champion with United in 2012-13, will also be playing in the Conference League next season after helping Fiorentina finish sixth in Serie A.

Of course, there are plenty of recent examples of players' careers going backwards since leaving United.

In 2016, United paid a then-world record £89m to sign Paul Pogba from Juventus.

He left in 2022 and the World Cup winner with France in 2018 is currently without a club after he was given a four-year ban in February 2024 for a doping offence - but in October that was reduced to 18 months.

Anthony Martial, who left in 2024, is now playing in Greece for AEK Athens, while Jesse Lingaard is contracted to FC Seoul in South Korea.

Midfielder Donny van de Beek, who cost £35m in 2020, is playing in Spain for Girona, who have just finished 16th in La Liga.

There are several players expected to leave United this summer as Ruben Amorim attempts to stamp his mark on the squad and bring in his own signings after taking charge last November.

Among those likely to depart is Marcus Rashford, who has been on loan at Aston Villa and accepts he will not play for United again while Amorim remains in charge.

In addition, the United boss has told winger Alejandro Garnacho he will be allowed to join a new club this summer.

Will Garnacho and Rashford, a two-time FA Cup winner and Europa League winner, thrive elsewhere?

Those who watch United regularly believe Garnacho, who is still only 20, has not been helped by the pressure brought about by the lack of experience in the United team.

They point out that when Cristiano Ronaldo was 20, and not at his consistent best, he had the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes around him, whereas Garnacho has struggled after being thrown in at the deep end.

In addition, the future of Sancho - who initially left following a dispute with Ten Hag - remains unclear despite scoring for Chelsea in a European final on Wednesday.

Will he start next season at Chelsea - or return to United?

"Like Antony, Sancho has had a decent season at Chelsea," said Stone.

"But if he had been that good, the Blues would not even be considering paying £5m to send him back to United.

"The issue with these deals is not what the players have done at their respective clubs, it is the form of the people United replaced them with."