<b>Duncan Edwards</b> <i>(1 October 1936 – 21 February 1958)</i>

1952-58, 177 starts, 21 goals

Those who saw him play believe that Edwards would have become the greatest English player of all time if he had not been on the United plane that crashed in Munich in February 1958 killing eight of the "Busby Bades", himself included. Edwards joined United in June 1952 and he had already won 18 England caps when he died at 21. He was the youngest player to play in the Football League First Division and the then youngest England player since the Second World War. In a professional career of less than five years he helped United to win two Football League championships and reach the semi-finals of the European Cup.

“The greatest? There was only one. Duncan Edwards,” Jimmy Murphy, the former United assistant manager, said. “If I shut my eyes I can see him now. Those pants hitched up, the wild leaps of boyish enthusiasm as he came running out of the tunnel. He played wing half, centre half, centre forward and inside forward with the consummate ease of a great player. He was quite simply a soccer colossus.