Manchester City v Manchester United: Carlos Tévez has made Gary Neville eat his words

“He (Sir Alex Ferguson) knows exactly what he’s doing and he understands when a player’s time is up. I can’t disagree with his decision on Carlos Tévez.”Neville’s opinion on the merits of Ferguson’s decision to stand aside as Tévez left Manchester United for Manchester City in July 2009 prompted an ugly slanging match between the Argentine and the former United captain during the two clubs’ tempestuous Carling Cup semi-final double header last January.

Although United overcame a first-leg defeat to proceed to the final, Tévez’s performance over the two legs, when he scored three goals, provided the perfect riposte to Neville’s comments and Ferguson’s refusal to sanction a permanent £25million move for the forward, who had spent two years on loan at Old Trafford.

Tévez may have occupied third-ranking behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney during his time in a United shirt, but few could now argue against the suggestion that the City captain has emerged as Manchester’s most important footballer since moving to Eastlands.

City might still desire a superstar name in the mould of Lionel Messi or Ronaldo, but Tévez is arguably as important to Roberto Mancini’s team as Messi is to Barcelona and Ronaldo to Real Madrid.

The 26 year-old’s relationship with his manager at City is fractious and tension is rarely far from the surface, but whether they like each other or not, Tévez is undoubtedly delivering for Mancini. Since he replaced the sacked Mark Hughes as manager last December, Mancini has seen Tévez score 31 goals in his 45 games in charge.

Tévez has gone from bit-part player at United to the central figure at City, to the extent that his team-mates now concede that there is an huge reliance on the former West Ham forward.

City goalkeeper Joe Hart said: “Sir Alex Ferguson is one of the greatest managers that has ever lived, so if he decided that Carlos wasn’t right for his club, then that’s how it is. “But Carlos is a phenomenal player, the best I have played with. He can carry a team and he can carry 10 men.”With Tévez having returned to Argentina last week to visit his family and recover from a thigh injury, City lost to Wolves and Lech Poznan in his absence.

On his return against West Bromwich Albion on Sunday, Tévez’s presence coincided with Mancini’s team securing a vital 2-0 victory. Despite the money spent on new players by City – more than £250million since May 2009 – their dependence on Tévez is striking.

With Tévez in the team, City have a win rate of 51 per cent in the Premier League. Yet without him, Mancini’s players have won just 25 per cent of their league fixtures. The win rate is an unimpressive 29 per cent when Tévez has come on as a substitute.

Tévez is rarely rested by Mancini, but that is unsurprising given that his strike rate sees him score roughly every one-and-a-half games. Last season, Tévez scored a Premier League goal every 124.7 minutes, while this term he is hitting the back of the net every 120.1 minutes.

His success rate in Manchester derbies is a black mark on his record, though. In five league derbies, for both United and City, he has lost four times and won just once – when he scored in United’s 2-0 victory at Old Trafford in May 2009.

On that occasion, he celebrated his goal by running to the touchline and directing a defiant ear-cupping gesture to United chief executive David Gill in the directors’ box. It symbolised the breakdown of his relationship with United and signalled his intention to move to City. As Neville said, his time was up at United, but their loss has been City’s gain.