Is There Somewhere For Tevez?

Sofia Coppola’s latest film Somewhere retreads a theme that seems to have run through many of her films: alienation, dislocation and disconnection from the pervasive consumerist culture. Whether it be virgins opting out of white picket fence suburban America in Virgin Suicides or Bill Murray listlessly drifting through Japan in Lost in Translation, her films chart the topography of loneliness that many a twenty-something can connect with. One such man feeling the human brine glossing his eyes as he sits in the cinema watching an estranged father attempt to forge a bond with his teenage daughter could be Carlos Tevez. The title could seem to him to be mocking him with its unspecific reference to 'Somewhere'. Tevez claims to know where he needs to be: Buenos Aires, or at least in the Spanish speaking world. It would seem that all the qualities that make Tevez so vital to the City frontline – his dogged determination and the raging passion that would combust a lesser man – are the very traits that could well see him separated from his oil rich employers. Separation seems to recur in Tevez's life, like a short clunking riff repeated with dreadful frequency: separation from his wife and two daughters, then from Manchester United. Now with the prospect of an acrimonious split with Manchester City on the cards, can he find somewhere where he is happy to play football that can also appease his estranged family and (to the more cynical) his bank balance?

This is not to paint Tevez as a victim to the cruel system that has shovelled money into his bank vaults at a furious rate; that would be a far too two-dimensional approach to the affair. Tevez is clearly a complex and emotional individual, and these factors make untangling his true reasons for handing in a written transfer request more difficult. There is of course the plausible excuse that his family’s failure to establish a happy home in England is causing him real pain. For all his money he is still a young man trying to balance the demanding rigours of professional life and the responsibilities of being a father. His recent trip to Tenerife rather than Argentina has drawn attention, many claiming it undermines his assertions of homesickness; here again it would be hearsay to infer too much from it. City have come out and discounted this reason, citing his agent’s requests for an improved contract and the player’s declarations in the press that he is committed to the club.

On the point of the dealings of Tevez's agents it may be more helpful to view them as operating separately to Tevez and City. They are employed by Tevez to deal with his employers and make sure he gets the best deals possible. The agents generating revenue out of Tevez rely on his playing football, and for them it makes financial sense for him to be working for the richest owners on the planet. Should they be playing a very public game of brinksmanship – just as Rooney appeared to do earlier this season – they could be taking an almighty gamble. City are the one team in the world that would seem to be able to replace a player of Tevez’s quality, although such a replacement would not come as cheaply as the £25 million they paid for him. On the other point of Tevez declaring himself only recently committed to City, is it possible that at the time of that statement he was hoping to avoid the type of very public contractual negotiations that Rooney seemed to blunder through?

Whatever happens here, Tevez is further marginalising himself, laying himself open to accusations of being a mercenary. If he were to sign an improved contract with City he would have little defence. Considering their options would giving an improved contract to a disruptive player who has already publicly declared himself unstable be a wise move? Can the reported 8.6 million more he is reported to be claiming paper over the emotional cracks in his psyche? Or will this episode re-erupt every time he misses one of his daughter’s birthdays? This might be the time for City to prove that they have astute business acumen as well oceans of oil. Will we be treated to a press release photo of Mancini and Tevez cuddling in specially knitted sky blue Christmas jumpers with in the next two weeks? If City buckle to player demands they could face many more agents waking up and thinking about getting themselves a chunky Christmas bonus.

The answers to this situation seem to be currently as ambiguous as Bill Murray’s whisper into the ear of Scarlett Johansson in the final scene of Lost in Translation. We can only wait and see how this plays out.

~ Ed