2009–10 Manchester United F.C. season and United were knocked out on away goals. United announced early in the transfer window that they had agreed a world record fee of £80 million to sell Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid. Shortly after this, they confirmed that Carlos Tevez, who had been on loan with the club for two seasons, had not taken up the offer of a permanent contract. Tevez would later sign for United's local rivals, Manchester City. Lee Martin, Fraizer Campbell, Richard Eckersley and Manucho also left the club for an undisclosed fee. After the departures of Ronaldo and Tevez, United sought a new striker,
Manchester City F.C. in European football has qualified for European competition on a regular basis. In the 1970s Manchester City also had a track record of repeated entry into several of the non-UEFA sanctioned European competitions which were run in the era, including the Anglo-Italian League Cup and the Texaco Cup. European club football competitions began in the mid-1950s. Though Manchester City were moderately successful domestically in this period, the club did not play in Europe. City were not invited to play in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup did not begin until 1960. When eight players from neighbours Manchester United lost