Wes Brown: The time is right to leave

Wes Brown leaves United after 13 years at the club.

After 13 years of service, Sunderland have persuaded Wes Brown to leave Manchester. As good as the service he has provided has been, I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that the time is right, for both parties, and also in hoping that his brother, Reece, follows in his footsteps.

Will Reece replicate his brothers success at United?

Wes joined the youth team in 1996, before making his senior debut in 1998. In the 1998/1999 season, he was a regular in the United team, taking part in the clubs treble winning success.

 Brown has come through the ranks and shown tremendous loyalty, with players like Ryan Giggs, John O'Shea, Darren Fletcher, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs.

In my opinion, Wes Brown's best campaign with United was the double winning season of 2007/2008. Wes was a dominant figure in the reds back four, playing at right back for most of the campaign. After a neat one-two with Paul Scholes, Wes excellently crossed in a ball which landed right on the head of Cristiano Ronaldo before landing in the back of Petr Cech's net.

Brown (background) crosses the ball in for Ronaldo's opener in Moscow 2008.

Sir Alex Ferguson has previously stated that he see's Wes Brown as 'the most natural defender the club has seen for years. However, of late, his relationship has soured with the manager, with reports of a rift last season, with Wes finding it hard to earn a place in the first team, with the emergence of the youthful Da Silva twins and a slump in form. That resulted in Wes only making 7 appearances in the Premier League last season, which was not enough to earn a Premier League winners medal, which was a massive dissapoinment for Brown.

So, after 232 appearances and 3 goals - most notably his 'flukey' goal at home to Liverpool - it was announced on 7th July 2011 that Wes Brown had moved to Sunderland to link up with ex-United defender Steve Bruce, for a reported fee of £1 on a 4 year deal. It is a deal that benefits both parties. United have one less defender on their books and can concentrate on giving the likes of Jonny Evans, Rafael, Fabio, Chris Smalling and Phil Jones more games and Wes can play first team football at an established Premier League team who will surely be aiming for Europa League places next season.

I'm sure everyone associated with United wishes Wes the best of luck with the rest of his career.