Thursday 12 January 2012

Carlos Tevez. Victim or Villain?

The saga of poor Carlos Tevez continues.

Following the news that AC Milan have pulled out of negotiations with Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez, I can't help feel a little sorry for the Argentinan.

Yes I know he was being paid a hell of a lot of money when he was captain of the Etihad club but for those wages he almost single handedly dragged the club into this seasons Champions League. Before the start of the season he came out and informed the club that he had a desire to leave because his family could not settle in Manchester. This led to him being branded greedy and a trouble maker.

Ask any West Ham United or Manchester United fan and they will tell you a different story. West Ham fans will tell you stories of how Tevez, with his goals and work rate kept them from being relegated. Indeed a goal against Manchester United on the last day of the season was testiment to that.

Then Tevez joined Manchester United and formed a deadly trinity with Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney. Again his effort, work rate and dedication combined with an uncanny knack of scoring vital goals left United fans bewildered when Tevez was not offered a new contract. Sir Alex Ferguson has always stated his biggest regret is not signing Paul Gascoigne but I think if he is honest he will regret allowing Tevez to leave as a bigger own goal.

But leave he did and Tevez joined Manchester City. They narrowly missed the Champions League places in his first season and his goals certainly aided City reach the coverted Champions League. There were murmourings of him not being happy but all City did was throw more money at the problem in the hope that it would go away. Of course it didn't. The reason why is simple but also lost on the money men of Manchester City. Some people are not motivated by money alone. The well being of ones family certainly comes before that.

Carlos Tevez watched as Jerome Boateng was allowed to leave for potential rivals Bayern Munich, Shay Given was allowed to leave for Aston Villa and Craig Bellamy, Roque Santa Cruz and Emmanuel Adebayor were all allowed to leave on loan deals. A deal was offered from South America that would have left Tevez happy to return to his homeland and manchester City would have eventually recouped most of the money they paid out. Instead City played hard ball and thought they could rely on Tevez's professionalism and that he would play despite being clearly unhappy.

So what did Manchester City do to help the situation? Bearing in mind he was joint top league scorer the season before and club captain, they placed him on the bench and stripped him of the captaincy. Things came to a head during City's match against Bayern Munich when Tevez is alleged to have refused to come off the bench. This brought criticism to the player while the clubs role in the events leading up to that night were brushed under the carpet. He was suspended for two weeks and then fined two weeks wages.

Now we are in a transfer window and the big European clubs are all rumoured to be after him. Paris St.German, and both Milan clubs had been all linked with Tevez until today when Italian giants AC Milan pulled out of the running. Maybe the stigma of his time at City has soured clubs perception of him, or the fact he made a substitute appearance ruling him out of any European matches has put clubs off.

Seeing a happy and inform Tevez is what we all want to see. The time has come for Manchester City to realise you can't solve everything with more money and money isn't what drives everyone. If he wants to leave and if Inter Milan are interested then I think a solution should be reached that suits all parties. Manchester City want to sell without losing face, Tevez wants to leave and I think Italy is a place where he wil thrive. Failing that Manchester United fans will always have him back as would West Ham fans.

A former great player now spends his time ambling around golf courses instead of entertaining millions of football fans. So I plead with Manchester City. Let him leave, let him rebuild his career and let him play.

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