Illustration by giveawayboy

With the reported deal between Manchester City and Corinthians to send star striker Carlos Tevez falling through this week, it has left the star and team with more questions than answers.  During this entire summer transfer window, Tevez has maintained his wish to leave Manchester so that he could be closer to his home and family in Argentina, but with only a couple of weeks remaining to get a deal done, it appears that Tevez may end up wearing an Inter Milan jersey. Or, if that falls through, he’ll be sporting a City jersey for one more season.  But how did Tevez get to this point, in which, a heroic player wants to leave his club?

Tevez is a wonderful scorer and playmaker, but as this process has dragged on, many football fans have grown tired of the daily updates of will he or won’t he stay.  Tevez already forced his way out of Manchester United back in 2009, which he cannot be entirely blamed for.  Although loved by many of the fans, he was always going to be in Wayne Rooney’s shadow and not the number one option at striker.  There were also reports that Tevez did not have a good relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson.  So after the 2009 season, despite being United’s rivals, it made sense for Tevez to leave to go to Manchester City.  It didn’t hurt that City was offering to make him one of the highest paid players in England.

That should be where the story ends, right? Tevez got his money and had the opportunity to play for an up-and-coming squad.  Not quite.  In the two years that Tevez has played for City, he has made constant comments about the poor weather and lack of entertainment in Manchester as well as his need to be closer to his family.  All of this has lead to this summer transfer window, where there seems to be an unspoken ultimatum to get Tevez out of Manchester City.  I don’t want to underestimate Tevez’s need to be closer to his family.  That is something that most people can relate to.  But what I don’t understand is why didn’t Tevez know his geography before he signed his contract with Manchester City in 2009?  Did he not know what the city of Manchester was like before or did he just realize that there tends to be long stretches of cool and rainy weather?

With the Corinthians deal evaporating, Tevez doesn’t have many options left.  There are rumors that Italian teams like Inter Milan and Juventus are interested as well as Real Madrid.  But with it being late in the transfer window, most clubs have already spent their money and could not afford such a large transfer fee that it would take to acquire Tevez.  So it looks like he may be forced to go back to City where he is sure to be questioned by the media, fans and teammates about his commitment to the club.

There is no doubt that this saga has the ability to divide the City locker room.  Some players will be on Tevez’s side because he gives them the best chance to win.  While there will be those players who have grown tired of their moody teammate.  It is already well known that Tevez does not get along well with Roberto Mancini. And this summer’s possible exodus surely has done nothing to ease the strained relationship.  If this is the case, what affect will it have on the play of Manchester City?  Just last season, we had examples of how an unhappy star player can weigh down a club like Liverpool and Arsenal.  City certainly has other talented players on the squad that could keep them competitive in the Premier League, but they will need a healthy and focused Tevez to win the league.

The 2011-2012 season is an enormous one for Tevez and his legacy.  He is in the prime of his career and Manchester City is poised to overtake their cross-town rivals for the league title.  They have also qualified for the Champions League and will be a favorite to do well in that competition as well.  If Tevez is able to lead his side to glory, he will be remembered as one of the best players to have played in England in the past twenty years and all of the Corinthians mess will have been forgotten.  Then again, we might be going through all of these transfer rumors again in January.