I shattered Man United's dreams and then became forgotten catalyst for Man City's revolution

He was a Champions League-winning Brazilian international from Barcelona, signing for Manchester City before those kind of players tended to rock up at the Etihad.

In fact, Sylvinho was the first player to make the switch from the Nou Camp to East Manchester, opening the door for plenty of players, managers and officials to swap between the clubs in the following 15 years in a highly productive relationship between the two unlikely allies.

And perhaps most surprisingly, the move for veteran defender Sylvinho came about when Mark Hughes took City to the Nou Camp for a friendly and returned with a new signing who only made 15 appearances in sky Blue - but has taken a slice of City wherever he has ended up since.

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35 at the time, Sylvinho had just won the Champions League under Pep Guardiola, helping Barcelona to victory over Manchester United in Rome in 2009. In the following pre-season, Barcelona took on City at the Nou Camp, with then-boss Hughes spotting an opportunity.

"City were at the Camp Nou for a pre-season friendly," he recalled in 2020. "I got a call from an agent telling me he was at the Hotel Rey Juan Carlos where he was with Mark Hughes who wanted to speak to me. Hughes said to me: 'Silvio I know your situation, I know you are 35 years old but I need a winning mentality in that dressing room. I want to sign you.'

"They always sell the club to you and sometimes the reality is very different. But when I got there I soon realised that yes, it was exactly as it had been sold to me. There was a calm