Not all of them were exactly unknown in fairness.
Everyone knew about Valencia from his time at Wigan, we were linked with him too.
Smalling was signed by Fulham from Maidstone United F.C and nearly signed for Arsenal before going to United.
Hernandez - yeah fair enough, a real find but it remains to be seen if he can rediscover the form he had in his first season at United.
Jones was talked about as the next big thing after his first few games for B'burn, linked with us and Arsenal.
Young was one of the Villa's star players and linked with all the top clubs.
Fair play to Fergie for going out and getting them but it's not like these players weren't highly rated and talked about in the game prior to signing for United.