Carlos Tevez: A priceless striker who even proved Fergie wrong

Over a decade has passed since that infamous ‘Welcome to Manchester’ post, and Carlos Tevez remains a controversial but ultimately brilliant footballer.

We will never know exactly what happened in the summer of 2009 when Carlos Tevez left Manchester United for cross-town rivals Manchester City. It was a messy saga of contractual loopholes, opaque transfer fees and, of course, the involvement of super-agent Kia Joorabchian.

Tevez claimed United failed to make an offer; United claimed otherwise. In the end, however, it was City who ‘welcomed’ the Argentine to the city in which he already lived, and in which he was already a hero.

One thing is for sure, though. Having won Premier League, Serie A and even Chinese FA Cup medals over the last decade, we can reasonably conclude that Sir Alex Ferguson was wrong about Tevez.

Wrong, obviously, to shun him for the less workmanlike Dimitar Berbatov. Wrong to think that a checked-out Michael Owen could fill his boots (and those of Cristiano Ronaldo).

And wrong, so very wrong, to say this: “The fans quite rightly have their heroes and I was happy to go along with the deal as long as it was the right one but, quite simply, he is not worth £25million.”

Of course, that may have been Ferguson’s pride talking. If Tevez turned down United for a better deal at City, it would be logical — if a little petty — for Ferguson to act like his side had been in the driving seat all along, autonomously declining the permanent option on the Argentine on the basis of it representing poor value for money.

But if the Scot truly saw better value in Antonio Valencia, Gabriel Obertan and Mame Biram Diouf, then time has cruelly contradicted him.

Tevez, for all his supposed controversies, has had a brilliant