The Manchester United team of 2008 is regarded as one of the strongest to ever play the game. From a world class goalkeeper, impenetrable defence, strong midfield and unstoppable attack, Sir Alex Ferguson’s team really had it all.
Yet by the summer of 2009, two-thirds of the dazzling attack was gone. Cristiano Ronaldo had clinched his world record move to Real Madrid, a move which remains Manchester United’s biggest ever sale.
Carlos Tevez also shockingly left Manchester United the same summer, joining bitter rivals City, a move which has not been forgiven, with the club not even bothering to wish him a happy birthday earlier this week.
It was a double exit which even left Wayne Rooney questioning his own future, although former chief executive David Gill says there was ‘no chance’ he would have let him leave too.
How Manchester United deal for Carlos Tevez fell through
Manchester United fans at Old Trafford bellowed out ‘Fergie, Sign him up’ late in the 2008/09 season, urging the club and Sir Alex Ferguson to get a permanent deal in place for the Argentine.
Tevez had been signed on a two-year loan via a complex third party arrangement, with his ownership tied to investment firm MSI, as opposed to another club. In 2009, a decision needed to be made.
This was made even more complicated by Manchester United’s 2008 move to sign Dimitar Berbatov, which broke up the successful attacking trident of Rooney, Ronaldo, and Tevez.
So often it was Tevez who was the odd man out, and this was the case in the 2009 Champions League final defeat to Barcelona.
According to former chief executive David Gill, this may have played a part in Tevez’s decision not to sign permanently with Manchester United, because he insists a deal was in place to sign the former Boca Juniors wonderkid,
Gill told Five that the decision was mainly financially motivated by Tevez’s owners, but also said if the player really wanted to sign with Manchester United, he would have done so.
He explained that Manchester United did what they could to get the deal done: “We had him for two years and we had the right to buy him for £25.5 million and we exercised the option, to do that.”
Assessing the reasons why it fell through, Gill commented: “Whereas the first season it was him and Wayne up front, the second season we brought in Dimitar and perhaps he wasn’t in the team as much.
“Ultimately the people who controlled him, because he wasn’t owned by a club, it was the people we did the deal with to get him in for two years, they basically got a lot more money by taking him to City, it became a financial thing for them.
“If Carlos had been insistent on staying at Manchester United, he could have stayed at Manchester United.
“We had exercised, we had said we were prepared to pay that money for him to stay, but he felt for whatever reason better opportunities at City or whatever. The owners who had his rights effectively doubled their money I believe.”
Carlos Tevez move an unhappy resolution for United
Back in 2009, City were on the up, desperately trying to escape Manchester United’s shadow. Their acquisition of the Argentine was a statement of their ambition.
United were heavily criticised at the time not just for letting Tevez and Ronaldo go, but failing to replace either of them with top stars was a major mistake.
Tevez was part of the City side which ended up winning the title in 2011/12, pipping United on goal difference.
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