Flourishing in European football
I can
remember the day that Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano were announced as new
signings at West Ham. A deal that in the end was a bit of a nightmare for West
Ham as they were severely punished by the English Premiere League for breaching
rules involving third party ownership of players. Both players became involved
with Kia Jooabchian and his investment company while playing at Corinthians.
Corinthians formed an agreement with the company in 2004 before the Argentines
arrived in Brazil. In 2009 it was reported that Jooabchian’s Media Sport
investment group owned over 80 South American footballers economic rights.
Kia Jooabchian wanted the players to move to
London in order to have them in the European shop window, which in fairness
would start both their fantastic careers in Europe. With Tevez returning to his
boyhood club Boca Juniors last summer I thought it relevant to reflect on the
tenacious Argentines time spent in Europe
We all
know that exciting attacking talents regularly come out of South America to
Europe, where the big money can be made and they can compete in the best
competitions. Occasionally we hear noises of something special; we wait in
anticipation to see which club will bring them to Europe. For every Neymar or
Robinho de Souza, there’s one hundred South Americans that come and for
whatever reason struggle to live up to expectation. That was never going to be
the case with Tevez or Mascherano. Unlike the usual twinkle toed light weight
South American attacker, Tevez had so much more about him physically, tailor
made for the European leagues that he would go on to succeed in. Although Tevez
was a pit-bull he still possessed that South American class, the special touch
and technique that we all love.
Tevez
left West Ham to join Manchester United in the summer of 2007 after agreeing a
2 year loan deal with Kia Jooabchian’s investment company. He joined an
exciting team including Ronaldo Aveiro,
Nani and Wayne Rooney. During his 2 years at United, Tevez was an
integral part of Sir Alex Fergusons UEFA Champions League and English Premiere
League double winning team. Scoring the first penalty in the Champions league
final shoot out against Chelsea in Moscow. Tevez also won another league title
and the FIFA Club World Cup during his two years at Old Trafford, scoring 19
goals in 62 games.
After a
breakdown in negotiations that would have seen Tevez join United permanently, he eventually joined
Manchester City in 2009 in a controversial transfer both politically and
financially. Tevez scored an impressive 58 goals in 113 games winning 1
Premiere League title and 1 FA Cup. Tevez continued to flourish in the English
league and became a vital part of the League title winning side. Similar to his
spell at United, Tevez had darker moments when he fell out with team mates and
coaches, being accused at times of being a bad influence on the squad and
generally attracting negative press
From 2013
to 2015 Tevez played his football in Turin at Juventus where he became a fans favorite.
He scored 39 goals in 66 games for the Old Lady. In Italy Tevez won 2 Serie A
tittles and 1 Coppa Italia. Tevez and Juventus reached the UEFA Champions
league final in 2015 where he came up against his old friend Mascherano in the
Final in Berlin. Barcelona won that final 3-1 denying Tevez his second UEFA
Champions league medal.
As well as winning many trophies, Tevez also won a number of individual awards, these include West Ham player of the year 2007, Manchester City player of the year 2010 and PFA team of the year 2011, Juventus player of the year 2014 & 2015, Serie A team of the year 2014 & 2015, UEFA Europa League team of the season 2014 and Serie A player of the year 2015.
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