Was the Berbatov signing a mistake?Shouldnt we have just signed Tevez?

Nikelesh Reddy

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There’s been a lot of talk about Carlos Tevez recently thanks to Gary Nevilles comments on Sky.Tevez‘s former agent also took part in a debate with Gary Neville,and he said that “Carlos was desperate to sign for United right until the end of the season.The Berbatov signing and Uniteds refusal to offer him a contract really hurt him very badly”.I was just wondering whether we made a big mistake by letting Tevez go.

He was happy in Manchester,considering the fact that he stayed on for another 4 seasons in the city.He had a great partnership with Rooney on the field,and say with you might about him,but he was a ferocious warrior on that pitch.After Ronaldos departure,Rooney and Tevez could have formed an incredible partnership...Unfortunately Berbatov never hit the heights that was expected of him(even though he wasn’t a flop) and players like Chicharito and Welbeck were simply as not good as Tevez.

So all in all,was it a mistake to sign Berbatov,instead of just spending that money to make Tevez’s deal permanent??The great man made very few mistakes during his tenure,but was letting Tevez go one of them?
 

United58

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So all in all,was it a mistake to sign Berbatov,instead of just spending that money to make Tevez’s deal permanent??The great man made very few mistakes during his tenure,but was letting Tevez go one of them?
The problem was more that we signed Berbatov at all - allegedly we were happy to sign both Tevez and Berbatov, Tevez just didn't want to sign.

Probably a slightly unpopular opinion here but I would have much preferred keeping Tevez and leaving Berbatov at Spurs. We got great moments out of Berbatov, and he was a phenomenally gifted player, but his languid style of play didn't suit us IMO.
 

led_scholes

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I don't think the problem was Berbatov per se. We could (should) have signed him as a Ronaldo replacement. That summer of Valencia, Owen, Bebe and Obertan when we clearly needed someone for Ronaldo and Hargreaves was shambolic. We still had a really good team and we were close to another League and CL final if not the referee in the Bayern game.
 

James Peril

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Who cares to be honest, it’s the past now. This summer we sold a striker for 75M and didn’t replace him, that’s a much, much bigger problem and that’s a big part why we’re out of the top 4.
 

Nikelesh Reddy

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Who cares to be honest, it’s the past now. This summer we sold a striker for 75M and didn’t replace him, that’s a much, much bigger problem and that’s a big part why we’re out of the top 4.
Haha...Not much to talk about right now,so reminiscing about the past pal....
 

Nikelesh Reddy

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The problem was more that we signed Berbatov at all - allegedly we were happy to sign both Tevez and Berbatov, Tevez just didn't want to sign.

Probably a slightly unpopular opinion here but I would have much preferred keeping Tevez and leaving Berbatov at Spurs. We got great moments out of Berbatov, and he was a phenomenally gifted player, but his languid style of play didn't suit us IMO.
I agree...While Berbatov had his moments,I definitely feel that Tevez would have contributed far more for the next 4-5 seasons had he stayed....
 

Champ

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Berbatov was awesome for us at times, both him and Tevez were my favourite players of that generation,
The Tevez deal was mucky if I remember, agents involved, third party ownership etc.
Berbatov was something different, class on the ball, and contrary to popular belief actually worked incredibly hard for the team.
Tevez was a terrier, but had a tendancy to almost work too hard and fade dramatically from games.
Would have loved to have both.
 

MyOnlySolskjaer

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I didn't mind losing Tevez but Berbatov wasn't the guy to replace him, United have always been at their best with more fluid, quicker strikers.

Hindsight, we sign Suarez to replace Tevez. Then eventually Van Persie to replace Rooney.

Van der Sar
Brown Ferdinand Vidic Evra
Nani Carrick Scholes Giggs
Suárez Rooney​
 

United58

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I don't mind losing Tevez but Berbatov wasn't the guy to replace him, United have always been at their best with more fluid, quicker strikers.
Definitely, Berbatov didn't suit us at all. Great player, though, harder working than he was make out to be, too
 

Sandikan

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I agree...While Berbatov had his moments,I definitely feel that Tevez would have contributed far more for the next 4-5 seasons had he stayed....
The truth is that Tevez's last season here wasn't that strong compared to his previous one. The way he hit the heights at City afterwards colours peoples' views of what might have been I think. But he wouldn't have got the chance to play like that here as Rooney was always the main man over him.

Berbatov had his moments, but was just a different type of player, and going from super hard effort to a stylish wanderer didn't feel right at all.

At least when Rooney first had a down season, Berbatov produced his league leading goals run, albeit in a handful of games!
 

charlenefan

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Signing Berbatov and breaking up the best attack in Europe was a strange move by Fergie, but let's not forget he wanted Berbatov 2 summers before that as well, before he moved to Spurs so he was a long term target that SAF had a liking for
 

fps

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Yes, United should have signed Tevez. He was a United style player, hard working, swashbuckling, exciting. Berbatov’s signing didn’t work out, another Veron, top player, wrong team.
 

Irwin99

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The Berba signing was a mistake and there was a complaint that our play was often quite boring from 08-09 onward. We certainly became more static at times.
 

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In hindsight, yes. Losing Ronaldo and Tevez in one go was a massive hit to take, and we never really recovered. I think Berbatov slowed us down, we became more predictable to play against.
 

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Signing Berbatov and breaking up the best attack in Europe was a strange move by Fergie, but let's not forget he wanted Berbatov 2 summers before that as well, before he moved to Spurs so he was a long term target that SAF had a liking for
I remember when we signed him he said something about wanting to see more composure in out attack. Berba might be a more clinical striker but we lost something in our general play.
 

Web of Bissaka

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Tevez‘s former agent also took part in a debate with Gary Neville,and he said that “Carlos was desperate to sign for United right until the end of the season.The Berbatov signing and Uniteds refusal to offer him a contract really hurt him very badly”
1. Desperate?
Funny.

2. United refused to offer him a contract?
Isn't it more that United refused to offer him ridiculous over-high wages contract, why should we. He's not the best nor one of the top best players we had at that time.

3. Berba signing hurt him very badly?
Berba didn't really do that well even in his first season, so Tevez could've easily won the place back with his performances... but no he didn't because he wanted to leave.

Typical bs from agents. Nothing new.
 

Pexbo

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I post this from time to time so we don’t get wistfully nostalgic about Tevez:

____________________________________________________

After hearing Tevez spout off shit for so long I decided to put together a timeline of all that was said and done.


Here is why Carlos Tevez is a mercenary mary poppin that deserves no sympathy:


I still see alot of United fan's, blaming United and Ferguson for the loss of Carlos Tevez to our biggest rivals. If we take a look at the timeline of events, is it so clear?


August 2007 - Tevez signs for United. United's attack consists of Rooney, Saha, Tevez, Ronaldo.
A
May 2008 - United lift European Cup to compliment the Premiership trophy.

August 2008 - Perenial Injury victim Louis Saha looks on his way out as a squad with just Rooney and Tevez as recognised strikers with Ronaldo (who it is now known was playing his last season with us, something Fergie already knew).

Ferguson knew he would need to add another striker and as he is a manager always looking to the future he felt another dimension
was needed which is why he felt he should bring in Berbatov.


August 2008 - Berbatov signs, seeing that we have Rooney - Tevez and Berbatov with a soon to be leaving Ronaldo as our attack.


December 5th 2008 -


So..... We weren't making any effort to sign him? December 2008 and Carlos and his agent are being "difficult".


December 16th 2008 -
January 4th 2009 -

April 2nd 2009 -
May 10th 2009 -



So what changed Carlos? You were happy to wait until the season was over... "not about money"? No one has said it was.... could it be that City have offered you alot of money and you know the talk will soon start changing to that of money.....

Jun 27th - United are understood to have agreed a £25m deal for Carlos Tevez who's contract runs out on Jun 30th.

Jun 30th - Tevez understood to have agreed a deal 2 weeks ago with Manchester City.

July 14th 2009 - Tevez signs for City on a £150,000 a week contract for a reported £45m.





So lets get this straight.

1. We talk contracts, Tevez and Joorbachin are impossible to negotiate with. Tevez is happy with how he is treated.

2. Tevez denys talk of any contract talks but says he has agreed with Ferguson to to talk about it after the season has finished...

3. Before the season is finished, he starts talking about how money is not an issue but they have never had any contract talks and this upsets him,
despite agreeing it is best to wait unitl the football is finished....

4.United then agree a deal with Joorbachin for Carlos Tevez, who is one of only three strikers at the club following the departure of Ronaldo to Madrid, but Tevez had already agreed a big money deal with City....

Of course it wasn't the money.

You are a mercenary mary poppin who took all the United fans for mugs, you disrespected Ferguson and still maintain that "you had no choice to leave United" and that we will regret not treating you better".

I hope you get run over by your own Bentley.

You and your crooked agent are an example of everything that is wrong with modern football, so it's more than fitting that you join City.
 

Bondi77

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From my memory Tevez was not great in his second season and the money was huge to make the two year loan deal permanent.
When mega rich City came into the picture and were prepared to pay the money that his management wanted he was off like a shot.
I thought it was a great move to bring in Berbatov as Tevez was so similar to Rooney but Rooney was better so it was not a mistake.
It was probably a mistake selling Rossi if we knew Tevez was going.
 

RooneyLegend

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Sir Alex simply made an error on this one. Don't think he thought Tevez had the level he later displayed at City and Juve. Pretty sure if he knew that then the deal would have been done.
 

BenitoSTARR

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This 100%
Sir Alex simply made an error on this one. Don't think he thought Tevez had the level he later displayed at City and Juve. Pretty sure if he knew that then the deal would have been done.
No Tevez wanted the money City offered.
 

Deery

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Would liked to have seen Tevez here permanently thought he and Rooney had a fantastic understanding, they’re work rate and tenacity was something no other side in the world had. I think Ferguson missed a trick there but you never know what was going on behind the scenes with third party and Tevez’s attitude and the like.
 

Luke1995

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In hindsight, no. Berbatov was our top scorer in the 19th title and arguably should have started the 2011 CL final.

At the time, it wasn't a mistake aswell. Berbatov had a few good seasons at Tottenham and if United had not signed him, another top club probably would.

Tevez was a good player, but maybe Berbatov was an upgrade.
 

RooneyLegend

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From my memory Tevez was not great in his second season and the money was huge to make the two year loan deal permanent.
When mega rich City came into the picture and were prepared to pay the money that his management wanted he was off like a shot.
I thought it was a great move to bring in Berbatov as Tevez was so similar to Rooney but Rooney was better so it was not a mistake.
It was probably a mistake selling Rossi if we knew Tevez was going.
He was in and out of the team, didn't get to gain momentum at all. Him and Berba just didn't work on the pitch and Berba was in the first 11 pretty much every game.
 

Revan

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In hindsight, no. Berbatov was our top scorer in the 19th title and arguably should have started the 2011 CL final.

At the time, it wasn't a mistake aswell. Berbatov had a few good seasons at Tottenham and if United had not signed him, another top club probably would.

Tevez was a good player, but maybe Berbatov was an upgrade.
He was pretty awful in the second half of the season, and more than half of his goals that season came in three matches (Blackburn x5, Liverpool x3, and I believe Newcastle x3). For many many games, he was quite unproductive, and Chicharito deservedly replaced him in the lineup (also Berbatov did feck all in Europe). He wasn't even being considered to start the final, in fact, despite him being our top scorer that season (though with only one more goal than rookie Chicharito who played less than him), he didn't even make the squad for the final.

He was a great player to watch and had his moments (especially against Liverpool), but his sexy first touch make people forget that he was a very inconsistent and ineffective player, who was a non-factor in most of our big matches.
 

RORY65

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In hindsight, no. Berbatov was our top scorer in the 19th title and arguably should have started the 2011 CL final.

At the time, it wasn't a mistake aswell. Berbatov had a few good seasons at Tottenham and if United had not signed him, another top club probably would.

Tevez was a good player, but maybe Berbatov was an upgrade.
Berbatov wasn't an upgrade, as has been noted United were a much better team playing with pace and fluidity up front (the 2007 team with Saha ahead of Rooney, Giggs and Ronaldo was the most exciting and the 2008 team with Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo was brilliant too), Ferguson did the same thing Guardiola did a year later and overcomplicated his choices by signing a different kind of striker for so much that he had to play a lot despite not being as good a fit. We did need to add a striker in 2008 but in hindsight we should have got someone who was a better system fit.

With regards to Tevez, he really wasn't very good in his second year although he wasn't helped by being in and out of the team and he actually did come up with a couple of big goals late in the season. Given we knew Ronaldo was going the fact we didn't do that deal earlier suggests we might have been struggling to find the funds to do the deal even if he and his agent weren't so greedy, I mean we lost Ronaldo and Tevez and replaced them with Valencia, Owen, Obertan and Diouf for about £20m at a time when we were the 2nd best side in Europe and ideally would have been looking to get closer to Barcelona.
 

Bebestation

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SAF did make an error.

You dont take a focal point out of your team like RVN to create one of the best United attacks ever that has a free flowing attacking 3 only to put a focal point back in like Berbatov.

We should have kept tevez & find another interchangeable forward to play alongside rooney.

Tevez & Rooney upfront wouldn't be half as bad in partnership at times either.

Even if Tevez didnt want to be here - it was best we built on the type of football we were playing with interchangeable forwards rather than strikers like Berbatov & chicharito. I thought he ditched that idea with RVN.
 

Red_Orchestra

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Tevez just simply did not want to re-sign, there was a new contract on the table for him for a few months but he just did not want that new contract.
If we had signed Tevez, we still would have signed Berbatov as well. I remember Fergie saying something along those lines.
 

Ekeke

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Yes obviously. Not that Tevez acted perfectly but he was a better player and we could have secured him and kept a front 3 that any team in the world would have been happy to have
 

Jesse > Messi

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Found this on Wikipedia and thought it was relevant to the discussion - Although United agreed to meet the option fee of £25.5 million and offered Tevez a five-year contract that would have made him one of the club's top earners, Tevez's advisors informed the club he no longer wished to play for Manchester United. Nevertheless, reports also emerged that Tevez had ruled out signing for Liverpool, given the implications of a Manchester United player moving to join their north-west rivals.

God that last bit made me laugh.....
 

Luke1995

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He was pretty awful in the second half of the season, and more than half of his goals that season came in three matches (Blackburn x5, Liverpool x3, and I believe Newcastle x3). For many many games, he was quite unproductive, and Chicharito deservedly replaced him in the lineup (also Berbatov did feck all in Europe). He wasn't even being considered to start the final, in fact, despite him being our top scorer that season (though with only one more goal than rookie Chicharito who played less than him), he didn't even make the squad for the final.

He was a great player to watch and had his moments (especially against Liverpool), but his sexy first touch make people forget that he was a very inconsistent and ineffective player, who was a non-factor in most of our big matches.
I can't remember Tevez being very influential in european matches either
 

Luke1995

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Berbatov wasn't an upgrade, as has been noted United were a much better team playing with pace and fluidity up front (the 2007 team with Saha ahead of Rooney, Giggs and Ronaldo was the most exciting and the 2008 team with Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo was brilliant too), Ferguson did the same thing Guardiola did a year later and overcomplicated his choices by signing a different kind of striker for so much that he had to play a lot despite not being as good a fit. We did need to add a striker in 2008 but in hindsight we should have got someone who was a better system fit.

With regards to Tevez, he really wasn't very good in his second year although he wasn't helped by being in and out of the team and he actually did come up with a couple of big goals late in the season. Given we knew Ronaldo was going the fact we didn't do that deal earlier suggests we might have been struggling to find the funds to do the deal even if he and his agent weren't so greedy, I mean we lost Ronaldo and Tevez and replaced them with Valencia, Owen, Obertan and Diouf for about £20m at a time when we were the 2nd best side in Europe and ideally would have been looking to get closer to Barcelona.
Yeah, I can't disagree with that, but... I think fergie did more damage to the squad in that summer of 2009 than by signing Berbatov. If I recall correctly, the Glazers only started cutting the money from transfers in 2010, but up until then Fergie was given good money to spend...
 

Revan

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I can't remember Tevez being very influential in european matches either
In 2008 he definitely was (SAF even subbed Rooney in the final but kept Tevez). In 2009 less so (though I think he scored an important goal against Porto).

I am not sure if Berba even scored in some KO tie for us and his overall record in UCL for us was quite bad (especially after the first year).
 

Luke1995

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In 2008 he definitely was (SAF even subbed Rooney in the final but kept Tevez). In 2009 less so (though I think he scored an important goal against Porto).

I am not sure if Berba even scored in some KO tie for us and his overall record in UCL for us was quite bad (especially after the first year).
It's funny how these things works.

Veron wasn't very influential in league games but in the european ones he would give some masterclasses. Berbatov probably was better suited for the pace of european games, so it's weird that he has that bad of a record.
 

Striker10

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It's in the past BUT it''s also good to learn from the past. We lost Ronaldo and Tevez in such a short space of time. For me it was a mistake. As much as I like Berbatov, Tevez should have been there to carry us when Ronaldo left with Rooney. We lost a lot of quality and tenacity. It's a shame actually.