{"id":299430,"date":"2023-12-06T17:54:20","date_gmt":"2023-12-06T17:54:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports-life-news.com\/?p=299430"},"modified":"2023-12-06T17:54:20","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T17:54:20","slug":"man-utd-got-one-over-city-in-transfer-market-as-they-tried-to-gazump-rivals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports-life-news.com\/soccer\/man-utd-got-one-over-city-in-transfer-market-as-they-tried-to-gazump-rivals\/","title":{"rendered":"Man Utd got one over City in transfer market as they ‘tried to gazump’ rivals"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Manchester United got one over Manchester City when they signed Dimitar Berbatov 15 years ago. Former City boss Mark Hughes says the Etihad club tried to “gazump” their rivals and even offered to pay more to win the race for the striker.<\/p>\n

City were taken over in 2008 and Sheikh Mansour wanted to make an immediate impression. Signing Berbatov, who played for Tottenham at the time, would have been a major signal of intent.<\/p>\n

It was well documented that United were keen on signing him, giving City more of an incentive to flex their financial muscle. Many expected City to complete a deal on deadline day.<\/p>\n

But Sir Alex Ferguson had other ideas and Berbatov was pictured at Old Trafford late in the day to all but confirm his destination. Hughes was City manager at the time and says there was nothing else the club could have done to convince Berbatov to join them over United.<\/p>\n

Read more… <\/strong> Man Utd star ‘offers himself’ to Barcelona as dressing room turn on Erik ten Hag<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Hughes told the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast: “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\u2019t want to come to Man City.<\/p>\n

“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\u2019s shoulder], he was going nowhere so it was never going to happen.<\/p>\n

“We did offer more money from my recollection but he was never coming to City. He\u2019d made his mind up and Sir Alex had made sure he wasn\u2019t going to get anywhere near Maine Road at the time.”<\/p>\n