Which players have played for both Manchester clubs?

Manchester United and Manchester City have met close to 200 times in competitive football, and only a small group of players has worn both shirts.

Direct transfers between them are rarer still, and most crossings took a roundabout route, with a spell elsewhere in between.

Anyone checking the Man U vs Man City odds before the next derby is looking at two squads that have rarely overlapped.

These are the names that have.

Billy Meredith crossed first, then crossed back

The Welsh winger joined City in 1894 and became English football’s first star.

He scored the only goal of the 1904 FA Cup final, then served an 18-month ban over a bribe allegedly offered to an Aston Villa player.

United signed him while the suspension was still running, and he made his debut on 1 January 1907.

He won First Division titles at Old Trafford in 1908 and 1911, and the FA Cup in 1909.

He returned to City in 1921 and played until March 1924, appearing in an FA Cup semi-final aged 49.

Denis Law took the strangest route

City paid Huddersfield Town a British record £55,000 for Law in 1960 and sold him to Torino a year later, setting another record.

United brought him back in 1962, again for a record fee, and he scored 237 goals in 11 years.

Tommy Docherty gave him a free transfer in 1973, and City took him back.

On 27 April 1974 he backheeled the only goal of the derby at Old Trafford and refused to celebrate.

It is still remembered as the goal that relegated United, though results elsewhere had already settled that.

Brian Kidd did it twice over

Kidd scored in the 1968 European Cup final on his 19th birthday.

He left United for Arsenal in 1974 and joined City two years later, making 128 appearances and scoring more than 50 goals.

He later held the assistant manager’s job at both clubs, under Alex Ferguson from 1991 and at City under Roberto Mancini and then Pep Guardiola.

The Premier League crossings

Andrei Kanchelskis scored United’s first Premier League hat-trick in a 5-0 win over City on 10 November 1994.

Six years later Rangers loaned him to City, who were fighting relegation and let him go.

Andy Cole won five league titles and the 1999 treble at United, then joined City from Fulham in 2005 and scored 10 goals in 23 appearances.

Peter Schmeichel is the neatest case.

He kept goal for City in 2002-03 at the age of 38, and his side went unbeaten in the derby that season, winning at Maine Road and drawing at Old Trafford.

Carlos Tevez made it personal

Tevez won two league titles and the Champions League at United before moving across the city in 2009.

City marked the signing with a billboard reading “Welcome to Manchester”, which is where Ferguson’s “noisy neighbours” line came from.

He scored 29 goals in his first season, and City won the FA Cup in 2011 and the league a year later.

Owen Hargreaves made the same move on a free transfer in 2011, though injuries held him to four appearances.

The women’s game crossed too

Alex Greenwood captained United in their first season, 2018-19, winning the Women’s Championship before a year at Lyon.

She signed for City in 2020 and became their club captain in 2024, so she has led out both Manchester clubs.

Aoife Mannion went the other way, joining United from City in 2021 and winning the Women’s FA Cup in 2024.

Why the list stays short

Four miles separate the two grounds, and they have produced little trade.

Only a handful of players have moved directly between the clubs, because neither side wants to improve the other.

Peter Barnes fits the pattern.

He was PFA Young Player of the Year at City in 1976, and by the time United signed him in 1985 his career was heading towards 25 clubs.

Anyone weighing up a football bet on the next derby is dealing with two squads built in deliberate isolation. Betting is for over-18s only.