Mark Hughes has revealed that Manchester City tried to sign Dimitar Berbatov before his move to Manchester United in 2008.
In the latest episode of the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, the former Sky Blues boss was quizzed about whether there was any truth to the links about his side’s interest in the Bulgarian striker before he made a £30.75 million (Eurosport) move to United.
Mark Hughes says Manchester City genuinely tried to sign Dimitar Berbatov in 2008
The likes of Robinho, Darius Vassell and Valeri Bojinov to name a few were City’s options up top at the time.
Barring the Brazilian superstar, who had signed from Real Madrid in the same summer, the club lacked a lethal goalscorer on their books.
Mark Hughes has said that while Manchester City did everything in their power to sign Dimitar Berbatov, he chose to join Manchester United.
“Oh yeah, yeah, we were trying to gazump United actually at the time. We actually offered more money so the reality was that Berbatov didn’t want to come to Man City, he wanted to go to Man United and I think there were pictures of him, Fergie [Sir Alex Ferguson] was like that [gestures Ferguson having his arm around Berbatov’s shoulder], he was going nowhere so it was never going to happen.”
“We did offer more money from my recollection but he was never coming to City. He’d made his mind up and Sir Alex had made sure he wasn’t going to get anywhere near Maine Road at the time”, Hughes told the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast.
In 2009, Manchester City signed a certain Carlos Tevez
While Mark Hughes would likely have been disappointed to see Dimitar Berbatov join Manchester United, Manchester City fans were treated by the arrival of another top striker Carlos Tevez the next year.
What made the Argentine legend’s acquisition sweeter for the Sky Blues supporters was the fact that he had left United, where he was on loan for two seasons to sign for their local rivals.
As they say, the rest is history as Carlos Tevez went on to become one of Manchester City’s most key players and played a significant role in the club’s first Premier League title triumph in 2012.
While Dimitar Berbatov’s decision to sign for Manchester United may have hurt Manchester City fans at the time, bigger and better things were in store for them in the form of Carlos Tevez a year later and Sergio Aguero three years later.
As a result, missing out on Berbatov’s signature must no longer feel like the blow it perhaps did at the time for many associated with City.
