At £28.1million, Veron, or Seba as he prefers to be known, was, at the time of signing, by far the most expensive player in Britain.
With his array of passing, shooting, and ball-skills, Veron is almost the complete footballer. He became known to fans on British shores during the 1998 World Cup where he played no small part in England's defeat to Argentina.
Though on his arrival in England he had little knowledge of the English language, he does have two connections that may have brought him closer to his move to United and English football.
Firstly, his girlfriend is a student of English and secondly, his father Juan senior played at Old Trafford in the 1968 World Club Cup for Estudiantes and won. In a game that saw multiple dismissals, Senor Veron is remembered as one of the players who did the least fouling.
Indeed Seba's move to United was whole-heartedly supported by his father.
Like his dad, Veron began his career at Estudiantes but his prodigious talents soon won him a move to Argentine giants Boca Juniors. After just seventeen games and at just 21, Italian club Sampdoria came in for him and he was soon playing for the Genoan club.
He was a star of a fading club before Parma secured his services in 1998. It was there that his standing, both in Italy and at home, started to rise. After a personally succesful World Cup, he was sold to Lazio for £20million.
Playing under Sven Goran Eriksson he won a stack of honours - in 2000 the Serie A title and Copa Italia double, the last ever European Cup Winners Cup in 1999 and the Super Cup the same year, with the latter at United's expense.
Season 2000/01 was a troubled one for Veron and Lazio. Eriksson left for the England job and the club faltered in the league and Champions League. Veron himself became involved in a fake passport scandal, and though he was eventually personally exonerated, his time at Lazio was ended.
It still took a record fee for United to prise him away though and Veron took his place in the United midfield alongside the talent of Keane, Giggs, Scholes and Beckham. It was a move which failed to bear fruit too often in the 2001/02 season as Veron, troubled by an Achilles inury, failed to adapt to the English game.
Some high-profile errors, specifically against Middlesbrough and Chelsea, marked him out as a target for ridicule.
There were rays of light, with a great performance against Everton and two European match-winning showings against Olympiakos and Deportivo La Coruna but the image of his season will be a woeful showing against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League and a World Cup in which his standing as Argentina's leader was tarnished.
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