I lived my dream by signing for Manchester United – but I soon realized I wasn’t good enough

For many Manchester United supporters, the 2007/08 campaign will take some beating.

Just 10 days after winning the Premier League title away to Wigan, United claimed their third Champions League crown in the pouring rain in Moscow. Cristiano Ronaldo had finished the season with 42 goals and everything was rosy in the tomato garden.

Everything was so rosy, in fact, that United took a rather relaxed approach in the subsequent transfer window, signing just three players in the build-up to the 2008/09 season. Having recruited the Da Silva twins – Rafael and Fabio – from Fluminense, Dimitar Berbatov has ended a fairly quiet summer of shopping for Sir Alex Ferguson.

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United’s squad was already dripping in talent, Ronaldo was still on the books and the biggest name to leave the club that summer was undoubtedly Mikaël Silvestre, who made the move to Arsenal. But United being United meant they kept their options open, especially when it came to young talent.

This was why, in the run-up to the January 2009 transfer window, United targeted Partizan Belgrade winger Zoran Tosic. He had made a name for himself in Serbia and United parted with £7million to bring him to Old Trafford.

Regarded as one of the most exciting products to roll off the production line, United had assembled one of Europe’s finest properties. The 21-year-old has already made 56 appearances for Partizan, scoring eight goals in his inaugural season for the club.

Like many young people of that era, Tosic was a self-proclaimed United supporter. The club, at the time he made the move to Old Trafford, were Premier League champions, European champions and, just 11 days earlier, had become club world champions for the first time. United were the cream of the crop.

In 1999, Tosic first fell in love with United. This, of course, was the year they beat Bayern Munich in the Champions League final to become the first English club to win the Treble.

“From the moment I saw United win the Champions League in 1999, I was a fan,” Tosic said, speaking in June 2009. “When I was a kid, I saw a picture of the national team in the dressing room and I said coach “I’ll be there one day and I’ll be a Manchester United player, those are my two wishes.”

After completing his move to United on 2 January 2009, the Serbian, now 37 and playing for Greek side Lamia, made his debut in a 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the round of fourth in the FA Cup, coming off the bench in the second half to replace Ronaldo. He played in just two more games before the end of the season, keeping just 16 more minutes under his belt in the process.

However, Tosic found the adjustment process difficult. He had joined United when they were at the height of their powers and the level of quality was exceeded.

“I was brought straight into the first-team squad and the levels were so high that it felt like another sport,” Tosic recalled, speaking to The Athletic in 2019. “It was very difficult for me in those first weeks at Manchester.

“The ball moved so fast in training, the quality was top, top, level. Nobody lost the ball. Except me. I tried my best but it wasn’t enough. This wasn’t football on that I knew.”

Finding it difficult to adapt, Tosic became a regular fixture for United’s reserves. However, he was part of the first team’s pre-season training for the 2009/10 season and scored United’s third goal in an 8–2 win over Hangzhou Greentown, who are now known as Zhejiang Professional FC

However, the Serbian continued to struggle once competitive action returned, making just two substitute appearances in the League Cup in the first half of the campaign, featuring against Barnsley and Tottenham. Struggling to make his mark, United took the decision to send him out on loan in January 2010, allowing him to join FC Köln, for whom he scored five goals and registered two assists in just 14 games, noting that there was an interesting player. somewhere.

Tosic’s struggles to make an impact at Old Trafford would no doubt have filled Ferguson with a tinge of disappointment. The legendary Scot was confident the winger has the credentials to make the grade at Old Trafford.

“We’ve been looking at Tosic for over a year,” he said, speaking during Tosic’s unveiling. “He’s a winger and we like big players here at Manchester United so we’re really hopeful he’ll do well for us. Once he gets used to the pace I’m sure he’ll play a role for us this season.”

Struggling to make his mark, Tosic, after a loan spell in Germany in the second half of the 2009/10 campaign, left United for good in June 2010, joining CSKA Moscow. Despite spending seven highly successful years in the Russian capital, he still questioned his decision to leave United less than two years after joining them.

“In the end, I wasn’t sure I was going to get the chance I felt I deserved, so I decided to change clubs,” he admitted in 2019. “Even now I always think about that moment. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so quick and should have worked harder to show Sir Alex.

“Maybe I should have stayed and fought for my place. After all, this was Man United.”