Carlos Tevez. Where next?

Where next for Carlos Tevez? Manchester City? Chelsea? Certainly not Liverpool it would appear. Whether or not Sir Alex Ferguson has laid down the law and told Tevez he can’t go to their arch rivals is pretty immaterial. Striker Tevez was on loan to Manchester United and out of contract and it seems highly unlikely that the manager could have enforced such a condition.

But Tevez himself seems to have ruled out going to Anfield as he says he has too much respect and love for the Manchester United fans. Let’s just see if money will talk on this issue. Hot favourites have to be Chelsea, though Manchester City will be snapping at their heels. Tevez says he wants to go to a club with plenty of ambition which wants to go places. He’s interested in commitment and intent and in achieving “great things”. Both Chelsea and Manchester City fall into this equation but so do Liverpool who will be aiming to knock Manchester United off their perch. Not of interest to Tevez?

Hopefully, the Argentinean striker will receive better treatment at his next club. Granted, Tevez did not score that many goals for Manchester United but it would be hard to fault his work-rate and commitment which contributed to the club taking the Premiership title. He was popular with most of the fans and the players and, in the end, though Manchester United did drag their feet over offering him a new deal, they did want him to stay. The one big thing he did wrong was to go to the papers, a move always guaranteed to get Sir Alex Ferguson’s back up. He detests being held to ransom and, from that moment on, the writing was on the wall.

Sir Alex must have been fighting with himself behind the scenes. On the one hand, he obviously wanted to get rid of Tevez and teach him a lesson. On the other, he realised he was a pretty decent player and could have filled a vital gap following the departure of Ronaldo to Real Madrid. So, following a protracted silence, Tevez was eventually offered a lucrative 25.5 million pound deal which would have kept him at Old Trafford for five more years. His agent obviously thought it was a pretty decent offer but Tevez delivered the ultimate snub, saying no thanks and I am off.

In a statement on his behalf, Tevez said he just got the feeling that Manchester United weren’t that keen on him staying. He wanted more time to consider the deal and if United had given it to him, it was more than likely that he would have stayed. But they didn’t and that was that. Tevez out of the door. Of course, there is always a very small chance that Tevez will change his mind and stay at Manchester United which would be a real turn up for the books. But, as that old saying goes, anything can happen in football.