This morning’s Sunday Mirror newspaper goes with a remarkable story that Arsenal are preparing to sign Manchester United’s loan star Carlos Tevez in a deal that will shatter their previous £11m record transfer fee. Whilst the idea of Arsenal signing a Manchester United player who struggles to get a regular first team game seemed absolutely ludicrous to me until I remembered Michael Silvestre.
Pecking order
The twenty-four year old Argentinian striker has been pushed down the pecking order at Old Trafford with Sir Alex Ferguson preferring the combination of Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov in his forward line this season so far. Tevez will get another chance to stake a claim for a regular place in the team when the club world cup final gets underway later but he would willingly swap that for a place in the United line-up against Stoke on Boxing Day.
When Carlos Tevez arrived at Old Trafford back in 2007 a new United hero was born. He signed from, well, nobody really knows, but his last club was West Ham! After scoring the goal for West Ham against United at Old Trafford that kept West Ham in the Premier League, Fergie stepped in to bring him to Manchester.
110% effort
His all action, hard working, 110% effort style of play is always going to make him a crowd favourite and he quickly established himself in the side alongside the likes of Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo. In fact, those three became a mainstay of United’s wonderful double winning season. As the Summer break began, Tevez had no reason to fear for his future at the club.
The arrival of Dimitar Berbatov at the last minute of the transfer window deadline day will have been a blow to Tevez. He said all the right things about, ‘welcoming the competition’. ‘looking forward to the challenge,’ etc, but it must have been a severe blow to him in reality.
Goal spree
Since the start of the season, Tevez has been a bit part player and despite performances like his four goal spree in the Carling Cup victory over Blackburn, he is still the current third choice striker. For a man who is not on a permanent deal and is an Argentina international looking forward to playing and starring in the 2010 world cup under Diego Maradona, a bit part role will surely not keep him happy.
It doesn’t seem likely that he would move to North London, but if he was offered the chance of a permanent deal and regular first team football, it might be a difficult move to refuse.
What would Arsenal be getting for their money if the deal became a reality? This compilation shows what he can do.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGBIkWebXgA
At United, assuming that Wayne Rooney’s role will continue to be pretty secure, the other striking berth is a straight choice between Tevez and the mercurial twenty-seven year old Bulgarian, Dimitar Berbatov. You get great quality from both of them but that is where the similarity ends.
Worker
Tevez is a worker. He chases everything, hassles defenders and regards nothing as a lost cause. He can produce moments of brilliance but what he will always produse is ‘blood, sweat and tears’. Berbatov, on the other hand is a completely different character.
In contrast to Tevez, he always appears to be strolling through games. I often wonder if he even bothers to shower afterwards as he hasn’t actually broken out into a sweat at any stage. Having said that, he can also produce moments of footballing magic that have rarely been seen in the game. His first touch and his vision and awareness are second to none.
Infuriate
I like them both as players but Berbatov would infuriate me with his workrate. I would have to put up with it though, because he can produce things that nobody else can. It is a fact that although Berbatov would make me pull what is left of my hair out with his apparent lack of effort, I would almost certainly select him ahead of the wonderful, hard working, but slightly less talented Tevez.
Obviously I have no idea if there is any truth in the Sunday Mirror story, but I would imagine a move for regular first team football would appeal to Tevez at this stage of his career. Sir Alex wouldn’t want to lose him but he has to pick his best side and at the moment, that doesn’t include him.
I’ll be watching this one unfold with more interest than most of the transfer rumours, because I like Carlos Tevez. In fact, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like him.
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