After months of debate about the idiotic Argentinian, January is here and Carlos Tevez can be sold by Manchester City. The daily discussion of where is he, what’s he doing and where will he go should finally come to an end by shipping him off to the next unfortunate owners.
Watching him strolling through airports and relaxing in his homeland for the past two months while still collecting his reported £250,000 wages has made me and many other football fans sick. Even Neil Warnock became popular for a moment when he said ““the sooner he leaves the country, the better. Within a few months he’ll be kissing another badge.” Couldn’t put it better myself.
He has been in England six seasons (if you bother to count this one) and when he has decided to play he is one of the best players that the Premier League has had the pleasure to witness. When he is in the right mood he will chase down defenders, run for the whole 90 minutes and probably get a goal or two. But the problem has been that he is very reluctant to put in a shift.
West Ham fans are the only people that may still like Tevez and that speaks volumes. If he hadn’t scored the goal to keep them in the top-flight they would probably hate him as well. After all, he jumped ship as soon as he could and just by being at Upton Park he almost got them relegated.
Since leaving the Hammers he has played for both sides of Manchester and the only thing that United and City fans can both agree on is their hatred of the 27-year-old. Despite cheering with delight in 2009 when they were able to swipe him from under the noses of their big red rivals, allowing them to create the infamous ‘Welcome to Manchester’ billboard, fans of the Citizens now realise that their showpiece signing was nothing more than a money-grabber, prepared to sell himself to the highest bidder. During his time in the North West he will have collected millions in wages but he gets bored very easily and goes off in search of his next bumper pay day.
AC Milan midfielder Clarence Seedorf has already shrugged off speculation that Tevez could join the Rossoneri because of this. He said: “Looking back at his career, his agents and every move he has ever made, I think Tevez will go where they can promise him the most money.
“Milan would be the first time in his life that he has chosen a club for his career rather than the money. We’ll see what happens.”
Loyalty, like most other English words, is not in his vocabulary and that might explain why his career lacks of it. He hasn’t spent more than three seasons at any club since he turned professional and that doesn’t look like changing. On the pitch he will put in a big performance and will appear to be playing for the club but in reality he owns one of football’s biggest egos and expects to be the most important person in the team. He is not prepared to be part of the squad and sit on the bench. Following the sensational arrival of Sergio Aguero for this season there was no space for another Argentinian in the starting XI and because of Tevez’s previous attempts to leave there was no chance of him being first choice. When he was given his chance he wasted it, like his awful penalty against Wigan in September. It was no surprise that he was left on the bench but his own sense of self-importance blurred the fact that he was underperforming and so it led to the defining moment of his career, the Madness in Munich.
That one night showed off his character more than anything else. Rather than keeping his feelings under wraps and discussing them with his boss in private he preferred to make a public statement of his thoughts. He tried to stir up trouble for Roberto Mancini, to knock him out of his stride and get him sacked but it backfired spectacularly with the club and fans backing their manager. At the same time he caused issues for his team-mates who were forced into a corner over which side of the line they came down on. Under particular pressure was Pablo Zabaleta who had played his part in keeping El Apache at the club a year ago. The defender was one of the few who could talk to Tevez because of the striker’s unwillingness to learn English and was sat next to him on the bench that night. Obviously he followed everybody else and backed the manager but his friend’s petulance could have sent tremors through Eastlands.
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All of these are magnificent reasons to say bye but the icing on the cake will be that Tevez’s departure should also mean the league is rid of one of football’s most hated people ever, Kia Joorabchian. The Iranian-born businessman is not registered as a football agent but has managed to worm his way into the game through suspect ‘third-party’ ownership deals and has been ‘advisor’ to his prized asset for a number of years. This deal caused controversy when he joined West Ham in 2006 and since then he’s been spotted infesting Manchester City’s boardroom and was linked to Chelsea’s Ramires before he came to Stamford Bridge. Getting him out of the country and away from football would be the biggest bonus of the transfer window.
Tevez’s continued dissent has meant that Man City’s mega-rich owners would rather see the Argentina international playing golf somewhere in Buenos Aires than at the training ground but this feeling is spreading across the rest of the game. Earlier in the season he was linked with a move to Corinthians but they pulled out after balking at his £40 million price tag and since his inexplicable actions both Milan clubs, Paris Saint Germain and Tottenham have been rumoured to be interested. City only want to sell the Argentine but so far they have received three loan bids, one from AC Milan, one from West Ham and another from Irish second division side Limavady. These bids are not what the club would have expected and are definitely not what they want but potential suitors are nervous about splashing out on such a temperamental player. If Fernando Torres is worth £50 million then it is not an overinflated fee but nobody will want to spend so much money on a player who may not fit into the team, will probably cause problems in the not too distant future and will need to be the most important person there.
The whole Carlos Tevez saga needs to come to an end this month because we are all growing thin of it. I don’t want to see another image of him playing golf and I don’t want any more speculation about which club he will turn up at. Mancini said he wants it sorted in the next ten days and I hope that happens so we can all get back to our lives without him.
Are you sick of hearing about Carlos Tevez or do you want him at your club? Comment below or follow me on Twitter @jrobbins1991.
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