Premier League Nonsense

Does Carlos Tevez’ return to the first team mark the end of his days as a football mercenary forever offering himself to the highest bidder each time he seeks pastures new. Ever since he first arrived in England to play for West Ham United Tevez, along with his agent, has been forever in the shop window as he seeks to climb the pay scale table.

By returning to City is Tevez tacitly admitting his days of substantially increasing his salary at a time and place of his choosing are at an end? All the while he stayed away from City the papers were full of stories, no doubt placed by his advisors, boasting about the number of big clubs who were interested in securing the Argentine for their team but when it came to handing over the cash there was a distinct lack of urgency at their ATMs.

As a business model it was never going to be a long term success but then a footballer’s career is not long term either. As long as clubs’ coffers were filled with cash and as long as there were clubs willing to spend the obscene sums required then Tevez could always count on finding a club.

But the number of clubs who can afford his salaries is limited to perhaps no more than half a dozen in Europe. And not all of them are keen on the idea of bringing in a player as disruptive as for a short period of time and this gets truer the older the player gets when his resale value falls alarmingly.

Tevez’ return for the end of the season may good news for his manager Roberto Mancini, especially with Manchester City’s form dipping of late, but Tevez may not be thinking along those lines. He will be aware that the Euros being hosted in Poland and Ukraine will put many players in the shop window and he knows that he needs to keep his name out there or he will be overlooked by clubs looking for more bang from their buck and less baggage.

The Argentine striker is fast running out of friends in Europe and may well find his antics and wage demands have priced himself out of his chosen region. He may find all that remains for him are the mega rich clubs of Qatar, Russia or China.

Which just suit him fine.

# posted by Me @ 4:32 PM