'Tis a far point, that. It was perhaps even more so back then - but I think it's still true that a certain type of player just isn't cut out for a certain type of league. You could argue that the difference between the big leagues of Europe is smaller now than it was, due to players being imported from all over the world* and the consequent loss of a "national" style. But there is undoubtedly still a difference - in terms of speed and physicality.
The analogy is worrying, though. Veron was a top class player who simply didn't fit in. He wasn't found out, in my opinion, as much as it turned out that he just wasn't the right fit. In Europe, where Fergie ditched his regular formation for a three of sorts in the middle, Veron was much better. I suspect Kagawa would benefit from us changing our set-up slightly too - but the reason Fergie didn't change his formation permanently was simple and valid: Veron wasn't the only top class player we had at the time, far from it. We had others, who worked better in a different set-up, and in the end we were better off letting Veron go.
* Which was the case back when we signed Veron too, of course, but to a lesser degree. The equivalent to today's Swanseas and Sunderlands weren't loaded with foreign imports to the same extent, etc.
I know. It's purely nominal, though. Fancy bollocks. There's still eleven players out there and they're still playing football. Passing the ball around, trying to score a goal. Trying, hopefully, to prevent the other eleven men from scoring one.