Wayne Rooney has surprisingly named Carlos Tevez as the player he most enjoyed playing with throughout his career.
Rooney ranked the Argentine, who famously swapped Manchester United for neighbours Manchester City in 2009, above other strike partners including Cristiano Ronaldo, Robin van Persie, Zlatan Ibrahimovich and Ruud van Nistelrooy and England team-mates Harry Kane and Michael Owen.
He said the best thing about playing with Tevez was that they were similar types of players and had a remarkable understanding.
'I just loved our connection. Rooney told Sport Bible.
'The two of us up front, we complimented each other really well. 'Normally if I played with Louis Saha, Ruud van Nistelrooy or Robin van Persie – these strikers were always the No.9 and I'd play as a No.10.
'With Tevez we could rotate, I'd be the No.9, he'd take the No.9 spot and I'd be No.10. When we lost the ball we'd be like two bulls trying to get it back. As a strike partner, he was the one I enjoyed playing with the most.'
Rooney and Tevez struck up a magical relationship on the pitch in their two seasons together at United, winning the Premier League in both campaigns as well as the 2008 Champions League.
But their partnership was broken up by Tevez infamously switching to Manchester City in 2009 after United could not agree to sign him permanently following a two-year loan deal.
'I enjoyed playing with him that much and I knew something was going on because there was the issue with his ownership in terms of whether it was the club or an agent,' Rooney recalled of Tevez's sensational move to City, who then boss Alex Ferguson dubbed 'the noisy neighbours'
'It was actually very cheap to buy him and for whatever reason we didn't buy him. I think Man City got him for about £20 million, which is incredible really.
'You saw what a great player he was when he went there. I was devastated.'