THERE can be few football transfers that have split Manchester quite like that of Carlos Tevez.

It was only a couple of months ago that United fans were urging the club to "sign him up". Now they are facing the prospect of seeing the Argentinian kick off the season in City blue.

Tevez was, technically, only ever a loan player at Old Trafford, thanks to the complicated terms of his ownership but the way that United fans took him into their hearts showed they had accepted him as one of theirs - and that they were genuinely sorry to see him go.

The Argentinian has joined a select band of players who have moved directly from the Red half to the Blue half of Manchester.

He will, according to club records, be the 24th man to make that direct switch and the first since Terry Cooke left Old Trafford for Maine Road 10 years ago.

Notable

City have had some notable ex-United players on their books since Cooke - including Andrei Kanchelskis, Peter Schmeichel and Andy Cole - although all of them fitted in stints at other clubs between their spells in Manchester.

And the list also excludes the smaller group of players who moved in the other direction - such as Wyn Davies, who left City for United in 1972, and Tony Coton, who made the same move in 1996 but never played a first-team game for the Reds.

Cooke, then, was the most recent piece of transfer business that the Blues did with their neighbours. Not that it compares with the Tevez bid, because City's circumstances were very different then.

They had dropped to the third tier of English football, and for Cooke, the move was a way of trying to resurrect his career after a series of injury setbacks.

Since then, City have regained their Premier League place, become the world's richest club and broken the British transfer record.

They can afford to bid for the best, and their capture of Tevez can be interpreted as a serious statement of intent by Mark Hughes, the former United striker who is now City's boss.

And that is why, despite his United history, the Argentinian should have no worries about the sort of reception he will receive at Eastlands, according to Dave Wallace.

The editor of City fanzine King of the Kippax, said: "The majority of City fans I've seen interviewed on the subject have seen the whole bid for Tevez as one in the eye for United.

"I've heard United fans try to play down our attempts to sign Tevez, saying that he's no good, and that Michael Owen is going to be miles better.

"But I don't agree. I first saw him come on against us for West Ham a couple of years ago, and he was absolutely outstanding. If we'd had the money then, I would have said: `Sign him up'.

"The United fans loved him until they found out that he was leaving and wanted to come to us.

"But then I remember United fans talking to me about Denis Law, and saying: `It's funny how you can boo a player when he's turning out for your rivals, and then cheer him when he's playing for you!'"

Of all the players to have made that move directly across town from Old Trafford, Law has perhaps made the biggest impact.

City's then boss Johnny Hart had persuaded Law to return to Maine Road for a second spell when Tommy Docherty gave him a free transfer in the summer of 1973.

Nine months after making that move, Law backheeled an infamous derby winner at Old Trafford to confirm United's relegation to the Second Division - although, as it turned out, results elsewhere would have sent the Reds down anyway.

For Law, who had spent 11 years as a United player, it was a moment he could not enjoy.

He said: "I was pretty upset, to be honest, because I had so many friends at United.

"I was just relieved not to get any real stick. And that turned out to be my last touch in domestic football."

Winner

It is hard to imagine Tevez reacting in quite the same way if he were to score a derby winner at Old Trafford this coming season - not least because he has been keen to sign for City from the moment he had made up his mind to leave United.

Peter Barnes, who played for both the Blues and the Reds, believes the fact Tevez didn't grow up weaned on Manchester football will enable him to put any emotion surrounding a cross-city move to one side.

Barnes said: "I made the move from United back to City in 1987 but it was a very different scenario for me.

"I had grown up with City, as my dad Ken had played for the club, and had joined them as an apprentice in 1972. So I was always a Blue.

"For me, it was a stranger move when I joined United. When City came in to take me back to Maine Road, I felt as if I was going home, because my father was still working there and Jimmy Frizzell, the manager, made me feel welcome.

"It's a different scenario for Tevez, because he didn't grow up with that Manchester background. But it's clearly a move he wanted as his family are settled here and he doesn't want to uproot them. He'll also find that City are a friendly club, and he's a player they want, so he won't have problems settling in."