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

Offside

Euro 2016 sweepstake winner
Joined
Jun 9, 2012
Messages
26,627
Location
London
It's funny how Berbatov is now seen as United fans as some kind of legend despite him having a difficult time here a lot of the time.

2008/09 he didn't really live up to expectation and even experienced a fair amount of abuse for some things e.g. that penalty against Everton in the cup. 2009/10 when Rooney and later Nani stepped up to try and close the void Ronaldo left, Berbatov didn't at all really. I was very very frustrated with him towards the end of that season.

If it wasn't for the first half of 2010/11 where he was sensational he might even be considered something of a flop here when you consider he was our record transfer for years. Even in 2010/11 he was completely out of favour towards the end and when he did play he cost us like in the cup semi-final against City where he missed 2 sitters. That season obviously then culminated in him not even being in the squad for the CL final. It was obvious he was inferior to Rooney where as with Tevez I never really felt that way. 2011/12 he was a bit-part player really.

What it was with Berbatov was just the moments of magic he provided even when he really was frustrating. The flick round Collins, the overhead kick against Sunderland and even towards the very end I remember a magical back-heel against Fulham. Combine that with the first half of 2010/11 and you can look back and say he did alright.

Nevertheless, to answer the OP I think he did hinder Tevez who suited us a lot better and we would have fared better had we had Tevez and not Berbatov from 2009 onwards.

I honestly think it's a bold claim but there's an argument that had we had Tevez and not Berbatov we would have won the league in both 2010 and 2012 and possibly the Champions League in 2010. Tevez was sensational for City 2009-2011 the best player in the league behind Rooney for me.
 

AshRK

Full Member
Joined
Apr 23, 2017
Messages
12,097
Location
Canada
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​
Or could have signed aguero and he could have been our mainstay for years. It was sad how many quality players we missed out on from 2009 to 2013. There is a big reason why we ended up spending crazy amount since sir alex left. We were always playing catch up with city and chelsea.
 

Offside

Euro 2016 sweepstake winner
Joined
Jun 9, 2012
Messages
26,627
Location
London
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 was nowhere near in contention for starting that CL final. Not a chance. Owen was a better argument to start hence why Berbatov didn’t even make the squad. Berbatov was also not in Tevez’s league in 2010/11 even despite the goal figures most of them came in 3 games against Blackburn, Liverpool and Birmingham.
 

NoPace

Full Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2014
Messages
9,340
Of course. Tevez had only scored 34 in 99 for us, but he was 25 and Fergie shoulda realized he was hitting his prime and could go from a 1 in 3 guy to a 1 in 2 guy (which he was for City and Juve the next 6 years) and one who was a good overall footballer and hard worker and versatile positionally.

Basically it's like if Martial's scoring record were only slightly worse but he was a hard worker and good playmaker like say Jota on Wolves.

Berba wasn't a bad signing profile-wise. He'd scored 46 in 101 for Spurs and was a good playmaker for a #10. Wrong profile to fit with Cristiano, though.
 

Ronaldo's Mum Eh?

Ronaldo is shite
Joined
Jan 25, 2009
Messages
5,292
Location
TORONTO
Absolutely. Tevez should've stayed. Berbatov should've never been signed as he simply wasn't good enough for us.


Tevez had a ferocious drive and had amazing chemistry with Rooney and the rest of the lads.
 

el3mel

Full Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2016
Messages
43,735
Location
Egypt
It was a great signing at this point. Ok the end results weren't as expected but Berbatov still scored many important goals and was the league top scorer in a season, not a big flop if you asked me, just wasn't as big as expected.
 

Web of Bissaka

Full Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2017
Messages
8,553
Location
Losing to Comeback Winning!
So posters who are saying it's a mistake based on two things:

1. It's Berba's and Fergie's faults... despite Berbatov is more of a Saha's replacement and quickly run out of favor from the manager plus Fergie tried getting Tevez to sign.

2. We should give Tevez the ridiculous high wages that rivals that of City's.
 

FujiVice

Full Member
Joined
May 8, 2013
Messages
7,224
If we never signed Berbatov, it didnt make a blind bit of difference regarding any possible Tevez deal. We sold Ronaldo in 2009. If we wanted to, we could have signed Tevez. I never get the whole "is it Berba or Tevez" discussion.

The discussion really should be "why didnt we replace Ronaldo and Tevez."
 

tenpoless

Full Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2014
Messages
16,179
Location
Fabinho's forehead
No.
And I will never tolerate Tevez's "RIP Fergie" poster.
From that alone you can tell what kind of person He is.
Feck him and his agent and his owners.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

New Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2018
Messages
13,127
Supports
Erik ten Hag
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
Either Berbatov or Torres was his main target to replace Ruud. An all out striker.

While Tevez is not an all out striker but actually more a carbon copy of Rooney, he got him on loan and made the best out of it in 07/08. However, I guess no matter how good & beautiful your team play, it won't matter if they don't suit your own style.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

New Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2018
Messages
13,127
Supports
Erik ten Hag
It's so ironic knowing that Sir Alex admitted it as tough one to deal with Levy. It would have saved his time & also make it less complicated if he gave up on signing Berba. Although we do need a striker to replace Saha but may be not for 30m pounds at that time and should stick with Tevez, Rooney & Ronaldo again in 08/09.
 

Tarrou

Full Member
Joined
May 13, 2013
Messages
25,537
Location
Sydney
I thought letting Tevez go was a mistake at the time, but in hindsight he was a massive twat so who knows how disruptive he might've been.. as soon as he got to City he was crying about going home to Argentina

Berbatov did alright, but he didn't fit out system very well
 

United58

Full Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2019
Messages
2,190
Location
Ireland
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
Similar to Wenger-Rosický (apparently Wenger had wanted him since 21, signed him at 27)

I thought letting Tevez go was a mistake at the time, but in hindsight he was a massive twat so who knows how disruptive he might've been.. as soon as he got to City he was crying about going home to Argentina
He was a moaner but tbf he was fantastic for City (even after the golfing hissy fit :lol:), arguably even better than he was for us. Then he went to Juventus and kicked it up another level again
 

amolbhatia50k

Sneaky bum time - Vaccination status: dozed off
Joined
Nov 8, 2002
Messages
95,336
Location
india
Yes we should have chosen Tevez. Was the better footballer.
 

Snow

Somewhere down the lane, a licky boom boom down
Joined
Jul 10, 2007
Messages
33,229
Location
Lousy Smarch weather
Do you believe Kia? The man was a car dealer who turned to football where he made illegal deals to own footballers. Between believing him, Trump or Putin I'm not sure I'd pick him to be the honest one.

Ronaldo was always going to leave. You've heard Evra and Nani both say that Ronaldo saw himself being at United for 5-6 years before moving on.

Tevez left the English champions to join the team that finished 10th. He chose to leave the team where he had won everything. He was purely driven by money. Later at City they would get the same taste of attitude from him.

The best attack in Europe was not broken up. Arsenal and Chelsea scored the same amount of goals in the league, Liverpool scored 9 more goals. 7 teams scored more goals in the CL group stage, 6 as many goals. 9 goals in 7 games in the latter stages.

If Ronaldo didn't leave we would never be having this discussion. He's the one that was irreplaceble. SAF still managed pretty well despite it. In the 2 seasons that Berbatov didn't win with us we lost the league to Chelsea by 1 point where we lost both games against them and the other one was City on a GD. Two teams that changed the face of football with their titanic spending.
 

cyril C

Full Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2017
Messages
2,634
Answer has to be - NEITHER. Berbatov was a mistake as he was hardly used in subsequent seasons, so no doubt about it. Was Tevez the choice. I don't challenge Tevez quality, and up to expert to say whether he really fits into our formation and tactics. I recall the obstacle for signing Tevez permanently, was his 3rd party contract. It was not only expensive to negotiate, but would bring the Club into permanent legal hassle in subsequent years.
 

SambaBoy

Full Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2009
Messages
4,205
We definitely should have taken the option to sign him.

He was looking very sharp that summer, was at his best in the Community Shield against Portsmouth. He looked fit and hungry and had settled to life in the PL. Then we signed Berbatov. It sort of affected Tevez and Fergie didn't have him as the first choice. If we had went all out for Tevez and not signed Berbatov, I think we would have been in a better position. Berbatov never really suited us and wasn't really a United player, he had his great moments sure but he wasn't at the level of a Rooney, RvP, Yorke, Cole, RvN. I feel Tevez may have hit those heights if he had stayed.
 

Nikelesh Reddy

Full Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2017
Messages
1,912
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!
Not really....Tevez would have been a regular alongside Rooney,just like how he played alongside Aguero for 3-4 seasons.Tevez didn’t start too many games in his 2nd season...The signing of Berbatov and the club not offering him a contract probably just demoralised him...
 

Nikelesh Reddy

Full Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2017
Messages
1,912
I thought letting Tevez go was a mistake at the time, but in hindsight he was a massive twat so who knows how disruptive he might've been.. as soon as he got to City he was crying about going home to Argentina

Berbatov did alright, but he didn't fit out system very well
Actually that’s not true.He played 113 times for City over 4 seasons and he then played 2 seasons for Juventus before going back to Argentina.He stayed in Europe for 6 years after leaving United...
 

Nikelesh Reddy

Full Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2017
Messages
1,912
Do you believe Kia? The man was a car dealer who turned to football where he made illegal deals to own footballers. Between believing him, Trump or Putin I'm not sure I'd pick him to be the honest one.

Ronaldo was always going to leave. You've heard Evra and Nani both say that Ronaldo saw himself being at United for 5-6 years before moving on.

Tevez left the English champions to join the team that finished 10th. He chose to leave the team where he had won everything. He was purely driven by money. Later at City they would get the same taste of attitude from him.

The best attack in Europe was not broken up. Arsenal and Chelsea scored the same amount of goals in the league, Liverpool scored 9 more goals. 7 teams scored more goals in the CL group stage, 6 as many goals. 9 goals in 7 games in the latter stages.

If Ronaldo didn't leave we would never be having this discussion. He's the one that was irreplaceble. SAF still managed pretty well despite it. In the 2 seasons that Berbatov didn't win with us we lost the league to Chelsea by 1 point where we lost both games against them and the other one was City on a GD. Two teams that changed the face of football with their titanic spending.
Tevez was desperate to sign for United.Just look at his reaction after he scored in one of the last home games at Oldtrafford....The Berbatov signing reduced his game time considerably...Tevez already had a great understanding with Rooney so there was no need to sideline him by bringing in Berbatov...Tevez played about 120 times for City over 4 seasons before playing for Juventus....It’s undeniable that he was a top quality player...
 

jackal&hyde

Full Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2018
Messages
4,220
It's funny how Berbatov is now seen as United fans as some kind of legend despite him having a difficult time here a lot of the time.

2008/09 he didn't really live up to expectation and even experienced a fair amount of abuse for some things e.g. that penalty against Everton in the cup. 2009/10 when Rooney and later Nani stepped up to try and close the void Ronaldo left, Berbatov didn't at all really. I was very very frustrated with him towards the end of that season.

If it wasn't for the first half of 2010/11 where he was sensational he might even be considered something of a flop here when you consider he was our record transfer for years. Even in 2010/11 he was completely out of favour towards the end and when he did play he cost us like in the cup semi-final against City where he missed 2 sitters. That season obviously then culminated in him not even being in the squad for the CL final. It was obvious he was inferior to Rooney where as with Tevez I never really felt that way. 2011/12 he was a bit-part player really.

What it was with Berbatov was just the moments of magic he provided even when he really was frustrating. The flick round Collins, the overhead kick against Sunderland and even towards the very end I remember a magical back-heel against Fulham. Combine that with the first half of 2010/11 and you can look back and say he did alright.

Nevertheless, to answer the OP I think he did hinder Tevez who suited us a lot better and we would have fared better had we had Tevez and not Berbatov from 2009 onwards.

I honestly think it's a bold claim but there's an argument that had we had Tevez and not Berbatov we would have won the league in both 2010 and 2012 and possibly the Champions League in 2010. Tevez was sensational for City 2009-2011 the best player in the league behind Rooney for me.
I think the main problem with how we perceive Berba was that we were at the very top this club has ever been, winning everything and doing it in style, anything less then that and questions are asked. He was a very, very good player for us imo.

We should have signed Teves not question. But even letting him go, the main problem was losing Ronaldo and that for me is what colors the question of Berbatov vs Teves; Ronaldo stays, and we win more CL and more PL and this question does not exist.
 

Lay

Correctly predicted Italy to win Euro 2020
Joined
Jan 29, 2013
Messages
19,790
Location
England
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).
Scored a vital equaliser against Lyon too I think? Was also the forefront of the melee that got Drogba sent off :lol:

Tevez > Berbatov. Berba didn't fit our style and his top scoring season was inconsistent considering his goals were distributed in 11 games. H
 

Van Piorsing

Lost his light sabre
Joined
Feb 10, 2006
Messages
22,525
Location
Polska
Doesn't really matter. SAF could find a way without them like he always did. I wish we had so much push for ruthless and clinical strikers now like we did then.

Both scored against Pool, Berba's goal I'll risk to say one of United's greatest ever... Tevez though had Vidic's aggression and could dive into tackle and block like a proper defender at times.
 

MancunianAngels

Full Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2013
Messages
2,415
Location
Manchester
Supports
FC United
Interesting these arguments.

The worst thing about the Tevez was that it gave them lot a bit of impetus. You could argue, there was an element of the Cantona transfer for them.

Whilst he was a loss for us, as said above; our biggest mistake at the time was a failure to sign a world class replacement for Hargreaves and an ageing Scholes.

Berbatov was a world class player but we could have got more out of him. Perhaps you could also argue that we kept hold of Rooney for too long and he was the bigger issue in our style of play. But that’s a discussion for another day/thread
 

lenny_1248

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Jul 31, 2019
Messages
1,030
Yep, Berbatov has to be the most overrated United player in the past 10-15 years. Judging my comments about him, he should be a legend, when in reality he is just an underachiever clearly.
Tevez was far better and complete player.
 

stevoc

Full Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2011
Messages
19,836
I think Tevez was always going to City once the Arabs took over. They wanted a statement signing, he was the only United player they could sign and Kia had close ties with the Abu Dhabi owners.
 

mu4c_20le

Full Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2013
Messages
42,729
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.
You know what also didn't suit us?

Tevez's attitude.
 

Art Vandelay

Full Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2015
Messages
5,729
Location
Northern Ireland
Tevez was desperate to sign for United.Just look at his reaction after he scored in one of the last home games at Oldtrafford....The Berbatov signing reduced his game time considerably...Tevez already had a great understanding with Rooney so there was no need to sideline him by bringing in Berbatov...Tevez played about 120 times for City over 4 seasons before playing for Juventus....It’s undeniable that he was a top quality player...
Then why didn't he take the contract offered? He was desperate until he saw bigger money elsewhere.
 

Art Vandelay

Full Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2015
Messages
5,729
Location
Northern Ireland
@Pexbo Yeah he was a traitorous cnut. Your timeline sums it up nicely, but I could swear there was more bitching and moaning involved from him on an almost weekly basis. Going on about wanting to go back to Argentina etc.
 

The Brown Bull

It's Coming Home.
Joined
Jan 24, 2014
Messages
4,244
Location
Dublin.
I agree with those who think we would have been better off if we stuck with Tevez. He was a warrior on the pitch. Berbatov was classy but in my opinion overrated. That said I like Berbatov and think he's a cool bloke but from a football perspective Tevez suited us more.
 

Tarrou

Full Member
Joined
May 13, 2013
Messages
25,537
Location
Sydney
Actually that’s not true.He played 113 times for City over 4 seasons and he then played 2 seasons for Juventus before going back to Argentina.He stayed in Europe for 6 years after leaving United...
I think you may have misread my post

I said he was saying he was homesick for Argentina, not that he went to Argentina

the fact he then went to Italy instead made it all the more hilarious

from 2010 (one year after he joined)

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2010/oct/26/homesick-carlos-tevez-manchester-city

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport...hises-with-homesick-carlos-tevez-2120041.html

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/f...nchester-City-team-mate-Roque-Santa-Cruz.html
 

MadDogg

Full Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2002
Messages
15,810
Location
Manchester Utd never lose, just run out of time
Purely as a player in hindsight, yes we should have signed him.

But as a person, from what he showed in his second season with us, the attitude he gave us after leaving, and the shit he pulled in his last couple of seasons at City - I'm happy we didn't have to put up with him any longer. An argument could definitely be made that Berbatov was the wrong player to basically replace him with (harsh on Berba as he did have a decent time with us), but I wouldn't want Tevez.

He was a moaner but tbf he was fantastic for City (even after the golfing hissy fit :lol:), arguably even better than he was for us. Then he went to Juventus and kicked it up another level again
No arguable about it. He was a far better player at City and Juventus than he was for us. Even in his good first season he was still significantly behind both Ronaldo and Rooney, and then he was quite disappointing in his second season. Once he went to City he improved to the extent that he was up their amongst the best in the league.
 

Robertd0803

Full Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2014
Messages
6,530
As a player in hindsight we should have kept him. Even at the time we should have kept him and I thought it was a massive mistake letting him go.

We should have gone for someone to replicate the Rooney/Ronaldo/Tevez line up when Ronaldo left. Berbatov wasnt it as it changed the style of play way too much. But hindsight is a wonderful thing.
 

RooneyLegend

New Member
Joined
May 3, 2013
Messages
12,963
Do you believe Kia? The man was a car dealer who turned to football where he made illegal deals to own footballers. Between believing him, Trump or Putin I'm not sure I'd pick him to be the honest one.

Ronaldo was always going to leave. You've heard Evra and Nani both say that Ronaldo saw himself being at United for 5-6 years before moving on.

Tevez left the English champions to join the team that finished 10th. He chose to leave the team where he had won everything. He was purely driven by money. Later at City they would get the same taste of attitude from him.

The best attack in Europe was not broken up. Arsenal and Chelsea scored the same amount of goals in the league, Liverpool scored 9 more goals. 7 teams scored more goals in the CL group stage, 6 as many goals. 9 goals in 7 games in the latter stages.

If Ronaldo didn't leave we would never be having this discussion. He's the one that was irreplaceble. SAF still managed pretty well despite it. In the 2 seasons that Berbatov didn't win with us we lost the league to Chelsea by 1 point where we lost both games against them and the other one was City on a GD. Two teams that changed the face of football with their titanic spending.
We were speaking about it even in Ronnie's last season. Berba harmed the chemistry of the team.
 

Offside

Euro 2016 sweepstake winner
Joined
Jun 9, 2012
Messages
26,627
Location
London
Both Tevez and Rooney were slightly in Ronaldo’s shadow and were both the two best players in the Premier League in the two years that followed Ronaldo’s departure. Berbatov edging Tevez out even when Ronaldo wasn’t in the equation was a huge mistake from Fergie. As I’ve stated earlier in this thread Berbatov still did alright for us but he didn’t step up and do the business enough in the year following Ronaldo’s departure. Having Tevez instead of him would have delivered both the 2010 and 2012 titles for me and meant another CL final in 2010.
 

MoskvaRed

Full Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2013
Messages
5,230
Location
Not Moskva
Was it a genuine choice between the two? I don’t know whether we could have held on to Tevez. At the time, letting him go did not seem such a loss as his United form did not match his subsequent performances for City and Juventus. The real mistake was blowing 30 million (at a time of restricted spending) on a second tier, Spurs level player like Berbatov. City did not pay much more for Aguero two years later.
 

TrustInJanuzaj

'Liverpool are a proper club'
Joined
Mar 26, 2015
Messages
10,665
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.
Nahhh