Who are the greatest players in Manchester United’s history? The Athletic gave Andy Mitten the task of compiling his top 25, and we are counting them down this summer, in reverse order.He explains his thought process here.Denis Law is one of only four Manchester United players to win the Ballon d’Or and the only Scottish player ever to do so. He is third on United’s all-time top scorer’s chart with 237 goals yet has a better strike ratio than Wayne Rooney and Sir Bobby Charlton ahead of him.For United, he was an out-and-out striker, whereas he had played as an old-fashioned inside forward at his previous clubs, Huddersfield Town (under legendary boss Bill Shankly), Manchester City and Torino. His goals-to-games ratio is 0.58 (roughly a goal every 153 minutes), easily the best of United’s top 50 appearance makers.Law’s 404 games between 1962 and 1973 put him 27th in the appearance chart. Exceptional before he joined United, he warranted the huge fees it cost to sign him. His move to City was a British record, his transfer to Italy a record for a British player and his £115,000 ($155,000 at today’s exchange rate) move to Old Trafford another British record.And he had other uses. Sir Matt Busby was waiting at the airport with Law and Law’s wife Diana as United tried to woo Pat Crerand from Celtic. Crerand had never met Busby before, but Diana Law took his wife Noreen shopping in Manchester and made sure she was looked after. Some photographers followed them and there was a picture in the paper the next day of the pair of them looking at shoes.Getting down to business, Busby said he was building a strong team and United had been ambitious enough to sign Law, who joined from Torino in 1962. He said he needed somebody to play the ball up to the forwards and that player would be Crerand. That was some selling point and it worked.Law is the only person to have two statues at Old Trafford, one as part of the Law-Best-Charlton trinity, the other a standalone in the Stretford End. He also has a statue where he grew up in Aberdeen. The ‘Lawman’ was the original King of Old Trafford and for half a century after he left the club, he was still venerated in song (to the tune of ‘Davy Crockett’) by United fans on European away trips.A statue at Old Trafford pays homage to George Best, Denis Law, centre, and Sir Bobby Charlton (Lewis Storey/Getty Images)“Son of a fisherman from Aberdeen,” they’d sing. “Played for his country when only 18, his football magic is a sight to see, as he leads United on to victory. Denis, Denis Law, King Of The Football League.” There’s another about fans being prepared to walk a million miles for one of his goals.In 1963 he scored in the 3-1 FA Cup final win over Leicester City as United won their first trophy since the Munich air disaster. This is a player who held his cuffs in his clenched fists (mimicked by thousands of schoolboys), who took a sly cigarette now and then and was Sir Alex Ferguson’s role model as a footballer.