Carlito’s Way

This week Carlos Tevez finally called time on his Manchester City career, ending months of speculation surrounding his career in England. While City fans may fear for a future minus their captain and star player, I for one am convinced that they, and the English game, are better off without him. Tevez is a fantastic player, and City will undoubtedly struggle to replace his combination of skill and tenacity, however I’m sure many City supporters find his constant complaints equally as tiresome as I do. Yes his desire to be closer to his children is admirable, but the way Tevez has engineered his move is irksome to say the least. This is a man who lives the dream of literally millions of people. He is paid over £200k a week to captain a club with limitless ambition, a club who will play Champions League football for the first time in their history next season, and who will win the Premier League in the next five years. He is idolised by fans, and, regardless of who City sign, would always be viewed as their star asset. Most of us would have a tough time finding something to complain about.

Tevez’s excuse; that he cannot raise his children in Manchester, simply does not add up. Having moved to England aged twenty-two, signing for West Ham in 2006, Tevez can hardly claim to have had no time to settle in England. Yet, after five years, he speaks little English, and has made no effort to move his family out to join him. His comment that he finds Manchester “boring” is simply disrespectful to the fans who have idolised him, and the clubs who have transformed him into one of the world’s best. After reading some of Tevez’s recent comments, you get the sense that he does not fully realise how lucky he is.

Perhaps the player’s claims would be less questionable if Tevez hadn’t committed to a new five year contract only six months ago. After a protracted saga in which he claimed his desire to leave was for family reasons, Tevez underwent a miraculous change of heart which, of course, had nothing to do with the ridiculous new salary offered to him. If Tevez was that unhappy, if he found Manchester tiresome and refused to raise his children there, why did he commit the rest of his career to the club? There are too many mercenaries in the game today who do not understand that a contract is a commitment, not a minor inconvenience which can be cast aside when a better offer is presented elsewhere. As he announced his intention to leave the club, Tevez was eager to stress his hope that the fans understood his decision, however City fans could not be blamed for wondering what more their club could offer to the player, and wondering where exactly he hopes to find a better package than City can offer.

Roberto Mancini would be quite within his rights to strip Tevez of the club captaincy and relegate him to the reserves for his lack of professionalism, but player-power will undoubtedly prevail. In reality, only Chelsea and Real Madrid can afford the fifty million pounds transfer fee that Tevez will command. While Tevez has stressed that his desire is to return to Argentina, surely he understood that no club from the comparatively poor league would be able to afford his fee, let alone his astronomical wages. This adds weight to the suggestion that Tevez’s claims are simply a method of engineering a move to a glamorous European team. Conveniently, Tevez claims, his family are prepared to move to Spain. Or Italy.
If Manchester City were to take the admittedly unlikely action of insisting Tevez honour his contract and remain in England, it would interesting to see just how quickly he changed his mind and moved his family out to join him.

His reasons may be, on the surface, admirable, but Carlos Tevez’s attitude towards his employers and his fans is appalling. The signs that Tevez was the epitome of the ignorant modern footballer were evident from the early days of his career. After a high profile move from boyhood club Boca Juniors to Corinthians, notable simply for the fact that an Argentinean playing in Brazil faces a barrage of abuse, Tevez signed for West Ham following the 2006 World Cup. His time in London was controversial to say the least. After West Ham avoided relegation, it was revealed that Tevez was partly owned by a third-party company, a fact which eventually cost his far from affluent employers twenty million pounds in compensation, while Tevez himself unconcernedly left for Manchester. After two years at Manchester United, Tevez had no qualms about joining his team’s most hated rivals. Now, after continued success at City, he has secured himself a bumper contract, saw out six more months while collecting his astronomical wage, before showing a complete lack of disregard for his five year commitment.

So, while City fans may grieve at losing their star, they need not fear. It is entirely possible that in a few weeks Tevez will decide that Manchester isn’t so bad after all, reaffirm his commitment to the club and its fans…and sign a new £350k a week contract.