Tevez reveals Ferguson's broken promise drove him to join rivals Man City in 2009

Carlos Tevez has revealed that Sir Alex Ferguson’s failure to honour a promise of a permanent contract was the driving force behind his £47million move to Manchester City in the summer of 2009 — a transfer he describes plainly as “revenge”.

The Argentine spent two years on loan at Old Trafford from West Ham, scoring 34 goals in 99 appearances and winning the Premier League and Champions League. Despite that success, United did not trigger a permanent deal, and City swooped to sign him for what was then a British-record fee.

Speaking on the Rio Ferdinand Presents channel, Tevez recalled a specific conversation with Ferguson during a pre-season trip to Los Angeles in which the United manager assured him he would be kept on. “Fergie told me, ‘Carlos, I’m going to pay out your contract and you’re going to stay in Manchester,’” Tevez said. Ferguson then told him he was prioritising the signing of Dimitar Berbatov but urged him not to worry, promising his own deal would follow.

It never did. Tevez says that over the months that followed, Ferguson began leaving him on the bench and, in his view, deliberately managing down his transfer value. “I think that Ferguson had, from the day we talked in Los Angeles up to six months to keep his word. And he didn’t,” Tevez said. “On the contrary, he started leaving me on the bench… He started pushing me aside so he could bring down what I was worth.”

The sense of personal hurt was compounded, Tevez said, by the fact that United supporters had publicly urged Ferguson to sign him — a detail he still remembers clearly. “I felt like I’d given my heart to United. And I didn’t feel the same,” he said.

Real Madrid were reported to have shown interest at the time, but it was City who secured his signature. He went on to spend four years at the Etihad, scoring 73 goals in 148 games.

Tevez, now 42, was careful to acknowledge positive memories at both clubs, but left little ambiguity about what motivated the crosstown switch. “City, for me, was like a revenge,” he said. “I didn’t get back what I gave.”

The two-year loan arrangement that brought Tevez to United from West Ham was itself unusual — FIFA banned such extended loan deals in 2022 — and the controversy surrounding its terms had already made headlines before his departure. His candid account now adds a personal dimension to one of the most consequential transfers in Manchester derby history.