It’s clear that Carlos Tevez is on his way out at City. He’s not happy and despite the best efforts of the club to keep their captain and best player, it’s in nobody’s interest for Tevez to stay at City if his heart is no longer there. It is churlish to reject Tevez’s transfer request. The best City can do now is to recoup as much money as they possibly can from the Argentine’s sale.
Tevez is going to leave. When this happens, it’s clear that there will be quite a void in City’s team. On the pitch, Carlos Tevez has easily been City’s best player this season: He has the most goals at the club, the most shots on and off target and more man of the match awards than any other player. He already has 10 goals this season. The stats speak for themselves. Yet, they communicate nothing of Tevez’s bullish tenacity and will-to-victory. He’s a motivator and a man who leads by example. City will miss him, as would any other club who lost a player of Tevez’s quality.
City do have a rather unfortunate habit for picking up strikers with temperament problems. Adebayor is notoriously disagreeable, Balotelli is petulant at best and Tevez was downright mutinous at times. City seem to favour the passionate, but unruly type, whilst calm, controlled and able players like Roque Santa Cruz get left behind.
I can’t help but feel that as important as Tevez was to City, they will cope just fine without him. City will not win the Premier League this season, but I don’t think they would have done so even if Tevez was fully committed to the club. This squad is too ‘thrown-together’ for us to start expecting big things of them just yet. It will take at least a season for all the infighting to stop and for Manchester City to be a proper, unified team. That’s when they’ll be able to keep a sustained Premier League title challenge alive throughout an entire season.
It’s not like City aren’t capable of scoring goals from all areas of the pitch. Their midfield in particular is spectacularly strong. Balotelli, for all the bad press, is a supremely talented player who will provide goals by the shed-load. It’s not like City don’t have the funds to buy a decent striker should they struggle to find goals in a post-Tevez world. Life without Tevez wouldn’t be as glum as many of the naysayers are keen to suggest.
If handled correctly, the loss of Tevez could engineer a shift in City’s focus. City could wave goodbye to the desire for immediate glory and instead concentrate on building a team that functions as a unit rather than a collection of egos. For all his talent, Tevez was bad-tempered and I’m sure Mancini would testify, damned difficult to manage. Forgetting all the reports of dressing room mutinies, we all saw the altercation between Tevez and Mancini. How dare Mancini dare to sub Tevez off the pitch with a minute or two still left on the clock? City need a leader who is as passionate as Tevez – but in the right way.
If City are to be a genuine force in the Premier League, Tevez’s imminent exit should be viewed as a new and enterprising beginning. The squabbling and undercutting must stop – it’s time to band together.
What’s your take? Can City still be title contenders without Tevez? For more football debate and discussion, please follow me on Twitter: @ThePerfectPass
Holy Crap – it’s live fantasy football! Become part of Liverpool v Utrecht and play Picklive for FREE Watch and bet live – spices up any game!