Alex Ferguson brought Carlos Tevez to Manchester United in 2007 (Picture: Getty Images)
Carlos Tevez has hit out at the way Alex Ferguson treated him at Manchester United, saying the legendary manager was the reason he controversially moved to Manchester City.
Tevez was a big hit at United during a loan spell from West Ham from 2007-09, scoring 34 goals across all competitions, winning two Premier League titles and the Champions League.
However, instead of making the loan deal permanent, Tevez made a sensational move to local rivals Manchester City, where he would spend the next four seasons.
The Argentine says he wanted to stay at Old Trafford, but false promises from Ferguson meant he had little choice to look elsewhere and when City offered him the prominence that United would not, then he took the opportunity.
‘I didn’t have to think about it too much because I was angry with Ferguson,’ Tevez told ESPN, via TyC Sports.
‘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.
‘(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.’
According to Tevez, things then came to a head after the Champions League final in 2009, by which point he had already agreed to make the move to Manchester City.
Carlos Tevez went on to sign for Manchester City after his stint at Old Trafford (Picture: Getty Images)
“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,” he added.
“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.
“I loved playing at Old Trafford, for me it was like the Bombonera, it gave me that feeling.
“Then the Sheikh came, they told me they wanted me to be the flag bearer of City, he presented me with the project of what the club is today and that’s it.”
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‘For me he didn’t deliver all year, he made me suffer.’