Carlos Tevez is reportedly paid £150,000 a week, yet, last month, the world of football once again heard how he misses his family and may decide to quit football.
When he first made such a statement back in 2009, I naively pitied the man and his struggles in earning a large pay-packet and having to deal with the stresses of media scrutiny and overpaid teammates.
“I’m so tired of so much football, I want to enjoy my family a bit,” Tevez said in November 2009.
“I do not want to play, and I say this seriously. In the football is all about the money, and that I do not like.”
I agreed with his assertions that the romance of football had disappeared over the past 20 years – not that I’d be an expert having only followed the sport during the money era – and during this era it is all about money.
I felt for the guy, with his two daughters and wife far away in Argentina.
Let him go home, I thought, let him retire after the World Cup like he was suggesting and leave him alone.
It would be a serious waste of talent, but the important thing was that he would be happy.
Fast-forward one more year and a stream of comments from August to September 2010 repeated the same grievances.
“There is only a little time remaining before I retire,” he said.
I still had a hood over my eyes; he was repeating himself and not following through with some heart-felt comments, but I still gave him my time.
I was still behind him and even defended him from other fans’ views on the matter.
Now we come to 2011. Tevez has just won the FA Cup with Manchester City amid rumours he has a fractured relationship with manager, Roberto Mancini, and the Manchester City board.
It is the end of the season and his future is in doubt after requesting a move in the January transfer window and numerous dressing room bust-ups with Mancini.
Now, in June, he once again complains about modern football and the difficulty of living away from his family.
He throws around comments, which neither confirm nor deny any speculation about his future at Manchester City or his future in football.
I’m sick of it now. My patience has gone. It is beyond a joke and he has to either shut his mouth up or move back home or go to Boca.
There is no doubt he could pick up a decent pay cheque at Boca Juniors and be close to his family and have enough to set himself up for life.
Yet, he is still here. And still complaining.
He also apparently sees himself as the most important player and the second-most important person at Man City.
“I deal direct with Sheikh Mansour – no one else,” he said recently.
Who the hell does he think he is?
“There is nothing to do in Manchester. The problem is I’m still speaking very poor English,” yet another comment from the Argentine.
Not only is he publicly insulting his club’s fan-base (though to be honest most Man City fans these days probably couldn’t understand a Manchester accent), he is also admitting to the fact that he does not care for learning another language despite working there.
Now it’s rich for an Australian to condemn the man for not perfecting a foreign language, but he’s been in the UK for five years. Surely, he should have a basic knowledge and ability to get by?
It is clear that despite all his reassurances, his time in Manchester is all about money. That is why he rejected Manchester United, and that is why he is still at Manchester City, picking up his astronomical wage.
However, maybe all his quotes have been misinterpreted by a journo who can’t speak Spanish.
Anyway I’ll leave you with one more quote, “No amount of money, no cars and the lifestyle can make up for the moment when I leave my two daughters at the airport,”
Well clearly it can Carlos, or you’d be in Argentina playing for Boca. Go home already.
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