Manchester City would not have won Premier League titles without one signing, claims Man United legend
Patrice Evra claims Man City’s dominance would never have started without Carlos Tevez.The Frenchman reveals Tevez’s move was “payback” to Sir Alex Ferguson.City are hunting their seventh leag...
Manchester City would not have won Premier League titles without one signing, claims Man United legend Patrice Evra claims Man City’s dominance would never have started without Carlos Tevez. The Frenchman reveals Tevez’s move was “payback” to Sir Alex Ferguson. City are hunting their seventh league title in nine years, trailing Arsenal by nine points.
One legendary figure from within Manchester United has credited Manchester City’s rapid rise in Premier League title successes to one particular cross-town signing. The landscape of English football shifted on its axis in the summer of 2009 when the “Welcome to Manchester” billboard first appeared in Deansgate. While United were coming off the back of three consecutive Premier League titles, the controversial acquisition of Carlos Tevez signalled the beginning of a relentless blue tide that has since seen City amass 19 major trophies under the Abu Dhabi ownership.
As the current 2025/26 season reaches its crescendo – with City most recently securing the Carabao Cup at Wembley and progressing to an eighth straight FA Cup semi-final – reflections on the foundations of this success remain a point of contention at Old Trafford. For those who shared a dressing room with Carlos Tevez during Manchester United’s golden era, the departure remains a “betrayal” that fundamentally altered the balance of power in English football. Inside the heartbreak of Tevez’s 2009 switch Speaking exclusively to The Athletic’s Adam Crafton in a new interview, Patrice Evra has admitted the difficulty of seeing Carlos Tevez leave Manchester United for Manchester City in the summer of 2009.
“It was painful, man. It was heartbreaking. I couldn’t believe it,” Evra said of the Argentine’s departure.