It takes a brave soul to switch from red to blue in Manchester at the best of times, but of those that have crossed the divide, no one has done so with the same level of drama as Carlos Tevez.
The Argentine's arrival in England set the foundations for multiple controversies, signed by West Ham United under a breach of third-party ownership rules in which the rights of the player were partially held by agent Kia Joorabchian's company, Media Sports Investment (MSI).
The Hammers were fined £5.5million but managed to avoid a points deduction before escaping relegation by the skin of their teeth. In hindsight, that should have been a red flag for those at Manchester United: where Tevez goes, drama follows.
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Warnings were not heeded and United made their move a year later, again with the shadow of ownership rights hanging over discussions to the point in which Joorabchian issued West Ham with a High Court Writ. In the end, his MSI company paid the Hammers £2million and Tevez joined the Reds on a two-year loan.
That deal was confirmed in August 2007, and by the end of November, the striker had bagged five goals in red and been hugely impressive as part of the attacking trio that also included Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney. Such was Tevez's impact that Ferguson felt confident enough to confirm a fee had already been put in place for a permanent deal, three months into a two-year loan.
"There is no question about his long-term future here," the Scot said back in 2007. "David Gill has spoken to his agent and told him we are very happy with him. The fee is in place. I won't tell you what it is but it is still cheap. I want to make this happen. He has impressed everyone with his appetite for the game. He'll get me 15 goals this season and what's more, they'll be important goals."
Tevez surpassed those expectations and bagged an impressive 19 goals across all competitions as United grabbed a Premier League and Champions League double, arguably Ferguson's greatest season at Old Trafford behind the unmatchable 1999 treble-winning campaign.
While not the star at United - he was often in the shadows of Rooney and Ronaldo - Tevez was steadily becoming a much-loved figure at Old Trafford for his work rate and the knack of popping up when it mattered most.
Summer 2008 was the turning point for the Argentine's United career, more specifically the signing of Dimitar Berbatov. The Bulgarian arrived from Tottenham for a little over £30million, bringing with him a craft that complemented Rooney and Ronaldo better than Tevez's guile.
Appearances were reduced for the 2008/2009 season, with Tevez playing the least of United's attacking quartet. Problems with the forward's attitude started to surface and were noticed by his teammates.
"What annoyed me about Tevez was that he downed tools in his second season," former Reds captain Gary Neville told The Football Show in 2020. "He started sitting on the treatment table, started coming out late for training, started messing around.
"He was playing the club and I couldn't stand that, particularly being how I was at the time, which was a ferocious Manchester United person who never thought of anything else in my life, only United every single day.
"I understood that he had circumstances, but his people were in his ear all the time and he was so led by his people. It was always going to come to an end like it did.
"I felt disappointed that, as a professional, he didn't act the right way. The problem that I had with Tevez wasn't that he went to play for Manchester City. That wasn't the main issue for me. It was the way it played out in those last few months. I didn't like it."
Tevez's anger at being ousted reached a head at the end of the 2008/2009 campaign, with the forward rejecting a five-year contract offer. Frustration was growing as minutes reduced, and then Sheikh Mansour offered him a starring role across town.
"I didn’t have to think about it too much because I was angry with Ferguson," Tevez explained to ESPN some time after the saga. "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."
United still had a Champions League final meeting with Barcelona to prepare for, with Ferguson's men looking to land back-to-back European titles. Inexplicably, it was before that trip to Rome that Tevez told his manager of the decision to leave - and join City.
After starting on the bench, the Argentine was substituted on at half-time but unable to make an impact as Barcelona cruised to a 2-0 win.
“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,” Tevez 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.”
Tevez's move to the Etihad was confirmed on 14 July 2009, with the Blues commissioning the infamous 'Welcome to Manchester' billboard with Tevez in the background at the top of Deansgate.
Ferguson usually remained tight-lipped on the Tevez saga, concentrating instead on his own players and continuing to challenge for the title. But the sign clearly irked the Scot, who felt compelled to comment.
"The billboard in Manchester is just City all over, isn't it?" Ferguson said at the time. "They are a small club with a small mentality and all they can talk about is Manchester United.
"That's all they've done and they can't get away from it. The poster is a stupid thing using Tevez in that way and they've shown an arrogance which does them no favours. It's clear that it's a go at us because they think taking Tevez away from Manchester United is a triumph. But it's poor stuff."
The former United man would become the poster boy - both literally and metaphorically - for the early years of Sheikh Mansour's City reign, netting at least 20 goals in his first two Premier League campaigns - although barring the 2011 FA Cup, it was largely fruitless.
City did win the Premier League the following season, but Tevez spent most of that season on gardening leave after refusing to come off the bench in a Champions League match against Bayern Munich in the September of 2011. The Argentine returned in March and managed just four league goals, but he was on hand at the trophy parade to add more fuel to the fire between himself and United.
During the open-top bus celebration running its way through Manchester, Tevez took hold of a sign from the crowd that read 'R.I.P Fergie' on a gravestone, holding it aloft and smiling as the bus drove on. The sign was thought to be a reference to Ferguson's response three years prior when asked if United would ever be underdogs against City. "Not in my lifetime," he said.
Such was the distaste that City apologised to Ferguson and criticised Tevez for what they described as a 'significant error of judgment'. Tevez also apologised in the aftermath, later saying: "I got carried away in the excitement of the moment and I certainly didn't mean any disrespect to Sir Alex Ferguson, who I admire as a man and a manager."
As with his attitude towards the end of his spell at Old Trafford, Tevez's lack of class in brandishing the sign caught the attention of the United squad, specifically Patrice Evra who labelled his former teammate 'disrespectful'.
"I was very surprised by Carlos Tevez's attitude against Sir Alex Ferguson," the former Reds left-back said. "I'm not sure how the manager feels about it but I'm sure he won't be impressed.
"It's disrespectful. Tevez spent two years at this club and was treated extremely well by the manager so I don't really understand his reaction or the truth about the situation.
"Tevez is an adult, he plays for another club and is responsible for his own actions. It's a shame because he was always respected at Manchester United and remained in contact with some of the players."
United accepted apologies from both City and Tevez, with chief executive David Gill telling Sky Sports News: "I think it's right. The club acted pretty quickly. I think it was rather silly, frankly, in terms of what it said, but City acted with commendable speed. We move on and concentrate on other issues."
Tevez enjoyed one more season at the Etihad, but Ferguson had the last laugh, securing his 13th and final Premier League trophy in his final year as United manager.
The Reds legend ended his time in management and Tevez, again suffering as a result of being overshadowed by Sergio Aguero, left for Juventus. The feud between Tevez and Ferguson was water under the bridge until the striker decided to bring it back up in an interview with Spanish outlet Ole.
"It seems like Ferguson is the president of England," he snapped. "When he speaks badly about a player, nobody says he has to apologise but when someone comes out with a joke, you have to say sorry. I don't say sorry."
Tevez would win back-to-back titles at Juventus before moving back to boyhood club Boca Juniors, where he spent eight of his final nine years - there was one well-paid season in China with Shanghai Shenhua sandwiched in between - before retiring in June 2022.
His short and fiery spell at United yielded two Premier League titles and that 2008 Champions League glory and the League Cup. However, it was somewhat tainted by the fallout that followed, his decision to lift the sign and the attempts since to justify it.
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