‘I Loved Playing For Man Utd

Manchester United fans look back fondly on the Sir Alex Ferguson era at Old Trafford, especially given the club’s dramatic fall from grace since the iconic Scot retired. British football’s most successful manager called time on his trophy-laden career in 2013 after spending 27 years at Old Trafford, during which time he won 38 major trophies.

Ferguson knew how to transform some of the best young talent from the club’s youth academy into world superstars. He oversaw the development of David Beckham, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, who became three of the best players in Premier League history.

Many high-profile signings were made during Ferguson’s reign, helping him continuously dominate English football. Rival fans grew irritated seeing the Premier League’s most entertaining and formidable forwards head to the 13-time champions.

One of those was a tricky 22-year-old Argentinian attacker named Carlos Tevez, who joined the Red Devils from West Ham United in 2007 on a two-year loan deal. He quickly became a fan favourite at the Theatre of Dreams, winning the UEFA Champions League, two Premier League titles, the FIFA Club World Cup, and the League Cup twice.

Yet, the fairytale move many anticipated ended in tears as Tevez and Ferguson came to loggerheads. Instead of making the loan deal permanent, the feisty forward made a controversial move to then-noisy neighbours Manchester City. This is the story of the 76-cap Argentina international’s unceremonious exit told from his perspective.

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Carlos Tevez’s trust issues with Ferguson laid bare

The Argentine felt betrayed by the Manchester United icon

Tevez joined Manchester United off the back of helping West Ham avoid relegation and carried his impressive Hammers form to Old Trafford. He was part of a frightening attack that boasted Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo as the Reds marched towards Champions League glory.

Ferguson didn’t rest on his laurels and further bolstered his attack with the addition of Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham Hotspur in September 2008. That transfer occurred a year into Tevez’s United spell and brought with it trouble because of the Scot’s apparent promises.

Tevez delved into his departure and how he felt hurt by the events. He told ESPN (via TyC Sports):

I didn’t have to think about it too much because I was angry with Ferguson. As a coach he’s a phenomenon, he was at a club like United for such a long time. But I had a situation with him.

The Argentinian ace suggested there was a lack of movement in talks over making his loan move permanent despite Ferguson initially stating the club’s intentions to do so:

(He told me) we’re going to buy you, but I’m going to bring [Dimitar] Berbatov. Don’t worry, I’m going to bring him to compete with you. But we’re going to talk to your agent to agree on the contract and the transfer. (But) they didn’t call my agent, nothing. Time was passing. They started to want to lower my price. I was performing every time I came on and people started to shout my name. It was a year-long process of eating it up.

Tevez grew frustrated with the situation and agreed to move to arch-rivals Manchester City before United’s 2-0 defeat to Barcelona in the 2009 Champions League final:

I had more or less agreed with the Sheikh that after the game, I would take a private plane, go with my family to Abu Dhabi to meet him and to settle the contract with City, all before the final with United. It was like a dagger for him (Ferguson). And for me too, because I loved United. But for me he didn’t deliver all year, he made me suffer. It hurt me a lot, because I loved United.

During his illustrious reign, Tevez’s contentious exit wasn’t the first high-profile falling out between a player and Ferguson. There was a running theme of world-class superstars making way because of issues with the 82-year-old.

Tevez’s two-year spell at Old Trafford was a success, with the versatile striker scoring 34 goals and making 14 assists in 99 games. However, the circumstances of his departure and his decision to join City upon their journey towards claiming power in Manchester will forever mar his Red Devils stint.

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Tevez’s troublemaking led to rift with Roberto Mancini

History repeated itself at the Etihad

Tevez enjoyed four years at City after permanently switching to the Blue side of Manchester for £25.5 million in 2009. He was one of the biggest names to join the Cityzens at the start of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s ownership, which would lead to unimaginable success.

A massive poster of Tevez celebrating with the caption ‘Welcome to Manchester’ was produced in Manchester city centre. He’d make 148 appearances, register 73 goals and 32 assists, and win the Premier League title at United’s expense.

However, trouble in paradise arrived in 2011 when Tevez clashed with ex-City boss Roberto Mancini. He refused to come on as a substitute in a 2-0 loss away to Bayern Munich in the Champions League. The Italian ripped into the Argentinian for a perceived lack of professionalism (via Sky Sports):

If I have my way he will be out of the club. He just refused to go on. I don’t know why. I cannot be happy with this situation. Would something like this happen at Bayern Munich, AC Milan or Manchester United?

Tevez missed six months of action with City due to his indiscipline, which he put down to miscommunication. He was reinstated into Mancini’s team the following season but left the Cityzens for Serie A giants Juventus in July 2013.

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All statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt as of 20/11/2024.

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