Is Carlos Tevez for real? VMC understands that no sooner had Tevez accepted his part in the Allianz Arena substitution debacle, then against Club instructions he clears off to Buenos Aires to ‘chill-out’ or in his words ‘Descansar un poquito’.
I am told that he was expected to be training at Carrington today, which you would expect based upon the fact that he is not required by his country at this time. So not needed by his country he has demonstrated that he is now so happy to be based in England that he needed to go to Argentina.
This looks like another breach of contractual obligations and therefore another meeting with HR looks inevitable.
I think it is quite clear that Tevez is persona non grata in terms of the first team right now and the first set of sanctions have ended. Against the background that he is not going to play any part at all in the team he has decided to continue his crusade to hog the headlines as he stumbles towards the January transfer window and a possible exit from the Club.
Apparently there is a FIFA rule that could allow the tearing up of a contract where a player does not take part in 10% of his Club’s matches, so maybe this is where Tevez is headed, no doubt under the guidance of his advisers, who no doubt see his future in either a poor nation or a poorer team than Manchester City as a bonus, not necessarily for Tevez, but definitely for themselves.
Anyway, this story will not go away until the removal van lands at his house in Cheshire and he goes away with it. Like just about every City fan, it is ‘Thanks for the memory, Carlos, but good riddance now.’
Paradoxically, Kolo Toure looks at least to have accepted the decisions against him with some form of dignity. Seemingly relieved of £720k in connection with alleged forbidden substances issue, Kolo has decided to take that on the chin and get back to business as usual.
Yes there were murmurings that he would contest anything that the Club threw at him and a cynic might suggest that the sanctions were a backlash to show some form of consistency taking the Tevez situation into account, but I suspect that prolonging the situation would not have suited Kolo, who will probably be heading off to the African Cup of Nations shortly and have the joy of playing regularly during that tournament.
Kolo might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but he does show a commitment to the cause, is always ready to play and is a quality individual despite being unable to command a regular start in a team that has moved on in his absence.
I suspect that, unlike Tevez, he will not want his story to germinate. Tevez will continue to grow his tale until he gets out of the door. Only six weeks to go !!
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