Slipperduke
The Camden Cad
I love Carlos Tevez. If you're anything like me, still immature enough to allow your mind to wander with fantasises of being a professional footballer, you'll know why. Tevez plays in exactly the same way that we would, were we ever given the chance. He is whole-hearted, brave and dedicated. He chases every loose ball, constantly harries his opponents for possession and never wants to give up. With his ferocity and his ceaseless will to win he represents everything that is good about Manchester United. But if he leaves England at the end of this season, he'll have no-one to blame but himself.
There is a reason why Sir Alex Ferguson isn't moving heaven and earth to retain Tevez. It's that GBP30m price tag with a Media Sports Investment logo on it. That's the approximate cost of buying up the 'economic rights' of the Argentine. Tevez isn't owned by any club, he's owned by a private, profit-making organisation. MSI are under no obligation to care whether Tevez is happy, settled or fulfilled. They don't have to care whether the fans sing his name and they don't have to worry about his medal collection. They just have to make money and they'll make it from someone this summer, whether he likes it or not. Why has Tevez allowed himself to be put in this position, powerless to resist as Kia Joorabchian hawks him around the transfer market like a fake Rolex?
You have to wonder why he ever got into bed with these people in the first place. It wasn't like he was an anonymous South American, desperate to be noticed. He was the star of Argentina's U17 team and top goalscorer in his country's 2004 Olympics gold medal winning side. He would have got his big move with or without representation. While you can forgive a young man his naivety, you can't forgive him for failing to repair his error. Tevez cannot be unaware of the mess that MSI made of the Brazilian club Corinthians and he cannot be unaware of the chaos that his shady move to West Ham caused. What will it take for him to realise that it's time to break free?
Footballers never realise how happy they are until it's too late. Some professionals will go their entire career without ever finding the happiness that Tevez seems resigned to losing. The fans love him, his team-mates love him, the club is relatively stable and he has a chance to win the biggest trophies in club football. He won't realise it now, but even the manager loves him. Does he really think that there's no connection with his relegation to fourth choice striker and his uncertain future? It's only natural that Ferguson would pick his teams with one eye on the future and, with that daft price tag, there's no way that Tevez will be at Old Trafford next season.
It is Tevez's own responsibility to extricate himself from this self-destructive link with MSI. He is not a child, he is a wealthy and talented adult capable of making his own decisions. He and Manchester United are made for each other and, if he allows himself to be hawked around again, he may regret it for the rest of his life.
There is a reason why Sir Alex Ferguson isn't moving heaven and earth to retain Tevez. It's that GBP30m price tag with a Media Sports Investment logo on it. That's the approximate cost of buying up the 'economic rights' of the Argentine. Tevez isn't owned by any club, he's owned by a private, profit-making organisation. MSI are under no obligation to care whether Tevez is happy, settled or fulfilled. They don't have to care whether the fans sing his name and they don't have to worry about his medal collection. They just have to make money and they'll make it from someone this summer, whether he likes it or not. Why has Tevez allowed himself to be put in this position, powerless to resist as Kia Joorabchian hawks him around the transfer market like a fake Rolex?
You have to wonder why he ever got into bed with these people in the first place. It wasn't like he was an anonymous South American, desperate to be noticed. He was the star of Argentina's U17 team and top goalscorer in his country's 2004 Olympics gold medal winning side. He would have got his big move with or without representation. While you can forgive a young man his naivety, you can't forgive him for failing to repair his error. Tevez cannot be unaware of the mess that MSI made of the Brazilian club Corinthians and he cannot be unaware of the chaos that his shady move to West Ham caused. What will it take for him to realise that it's time to break free?
Footballers never realise how happy they are until it's too late. Some professionals will go their entire career without ever finding the happiness that Tevez seems resigned to losing. The fans love him, his team-mates love him, the club is relatively stable and he has a chance to win the biggest trophies in club football. He won't realise it now, but even the manager loves him. Does he really think that there's no connection with his relegation to fourth choice striker and his uncertain future? It's only natural that Ferguson would pick his teams with one eye on the future and, with that daft price tag, there's no way that Tevez will be at Old Trafford next season.
It is Tevez's own responsibility to extricate himself from this self-destructive link with MSI. He is not a child, he is a wealthy and talented adult capable of making his own decisions. He and Manchester United are made for each other and, if he allows himself to be hawked around again, he may regret it for the rest of his life.
