Oh how they laughed when Fergie shelled out £30 million on Dimitar Berbatov, whilst seemingly allowing Carlos Tevez to see out his loan deal and move to their bitter rivals.
Back in the 08-09 season, where Tevez was struglling for games due to Fergie’s insistance on pairing Berbatov with Rooney, there was a lot of debate as to whether Tevez was worth the repoted £30 mil that his agent and part owner, Kia Joorabchian, was demanding for the Argentinian.
In his first season, Tevez immediately became a fan favourite at United, largely because of his aggressive style and impressive work rate. Whatever you say about Carlos, no-one can accuse him of not giving his all when he is actually on the pitch.
In his second season he spent a lot of the season on the bench, causing a lot of debate over his worth. Was it really justifiable to pay those sort of figures for a bit part player?
At the time, the transfer market was at a pretty stable place and £25-£30 mil was a lot of money but it was a figure usually reserved for the truly special players. In some ways, Tevez’s work man like style may have gone against him, in terms of public perception of his actual value.
But then Real Madrid decided to stump up £80 million for Cristiano Ronaldo, sending shockwaves throughout the entire transfer market. Suddenly £30 mil didn’t seem all that expensive.
I must admit, I was bitterly disappointed when he left Old Trafford, and was devastated when he moved to Eastlands. His lack of loyalty was sickening, but I always respected his reasoning.
A lot of players were criticized for joining City, but when someone offers to double your wages I think it’s a bit of no-brainer.
In his first season for City Tevez was easily their best player, and across Manchester, United’s Dimitar Berbatov, in his second season was still struggling to win over his manager and his fans.
It really did look as though Fergie had made a torrid mis-judgement.
In hindsight, you have to ask yourself whether this is actually the case, or did he simply get rid of a bad seed, a player with plenty of talent, but a player that doesn’t show the right attitude that is needed at a big club like United.
The whole will he won’t he saga went on far longer than necessary. Countless reports appeared in the media that he was unhappy with life in Manchester, and that he missed his family. The next day you would read a story that insisted that he was happy and was eager to sign. Sound familiar?
Fergie always maintained that Carlos was offered a permanent contract, and that United had matched the £25.5 million asking price. Carlos has always denied that this was the case.
One of them has to be lying. In this instance, I’d like to believe it is Sir Alex Ferguson. I’d like to believe the wise Scot walked away from man who was far more trouble than his worth. A man that may have a whole lot of talent, but will never be a footballing great. A man that just isn’t worth the time or money.
