Between January and June 2004, Daniel Van Buyten spent six months at Manchester City on loan from Marseille.
The Belgian centre-back, who ended up playing over 230 games for Bayern Munich in his career, was sent to the Cityzens for the second half of the 2003-04 season, during which time he only made six appearances.
It wasn’t his best time as a player, which is something that he can now, having been retired from the game for close to six years, admit.
In an interview with Sport/Foot in Belgium, the 42-year-old, whose last job was as executive assistant at Standard Liège, explained how the move to Manchester City came about and what he thinks of it these days.
He said: “When Bernard Tapie returned to Marseille in 2001, he arrived with 12 players (Van Buyten included) and sent José Anigo to the U21s. Of course, when [Anigo] came back in 2004, he savoured his vengeance. All the players who arrived with Tapie were called into his office. Two days before the end of the (January) transfer window, it was my turn.
“It’s probably the only bad choice I made in my career. It’s not a regret, but I wasn’t ready for England. I was too happy at Marseille. I had a house in Cassis with a view on the beach. For the first time, when my parents came to visit, they were on holiday. Just to see them happy, I could have stayed my entire career at Marseille. That’s also why I turned down the chance to go to Juventus and Manchester United a year earlier.”
At the time, Manchester City certainly weren’t the team they are today, as they ended up struggling in the lower half of the table that year with Kevin Keegan in charge.
They finished the season in 16th, eight points above the relegation zone, and Van Buyten swiftly returned to Marseille before being immediately transferred to Hamburger SV the following day for £3.4m.
