 Zahavi handled the transfer that took Ferdinand from West Ham to Leeds United for £18 million in 2000, and then his £30 million transfer from Leeds to Manchester United in 2002.As part of the deal, Zahavi was himself paid £1.13 million.Zahavi was a friend of the Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, whom he had first got to know in the late 1980s, and by the time of the Ferdinand transfer he was responsible for brokering almost every major Manchester United deal, including the sale of Jaap Stam to Lazio for £16.5 million and the purchase of Juan Sebastián Verón from the same club for £28.1 million in 2001.