English Premier League soccer club Manchester City has agreed to sell 29-year-old Argentine international striker Carlos Tevez to Juventus, the current champions of Italy’s Serie A league.Reports out of England and Italy said the clubs have agreed to a transfer fee of close to 12 million pounds, which is approximately $18.5 million in US dollars depending on the latest rate exchange. Tevez just needs to pass his medical and agree to contract terms with the Italian team to make the move official.
By shipping Tevez off to Italy, Manchester City is set to save approximately 27 million pounds ($41.6 million US) in salary and bonuses in the last year of his current contract.
Tevez joined the Premier League back in 2006 when he joined London-based club West Ham United. He then moved to Manchester United in 2007 and helped them win two league titles as well as a Champions League crown.
He hooked up with Manchester City before the 2009-10 season and helped the club win a league title in his four seasons there. The 2011-12 win was City’s first championship victory in 44 years. The club also captured the FA Cup with Tevez on the team in 2011.
However, while Tevez scored numerous goals in England, especially for Manchester United and Manchester City, he will always be remembered for his childish antics on and off of the soccer pitch.
Tevez was asked by then-manager Roberto Mancini to come on as a substitute in a Champions League contest with German club Bayern Munich in the fall of 2011, but the player refused to warm up and enter the game. Mancini fined him the maximum amount allowed under British soccer rules and Tevez left the team without permission and returned to his homeland.
Mancini told Tevez that he was finished as a City player and would never represent the team again. The player tried to force City to transfer him, but a move never materialized. Mancini eventually welcomed him back to the team and some of the fans forgave him while others never did.
Now after seven seasons in England, Tevez is finally on his way out. Juventus, who won the Italian crown last season by nine points, will now have to deal with him.
Manchester City also relieved themselves of a major headache five months ago when Italian striker Mario Balotelli was also transferred from the team. The 22-year-old Balotelli, who had several run-ins with Mancini, was sold to AC Milan in Italy. With Tevez now joining him, City will have to rely on strikers Sergio Aguero of Argentina and Edin Dzeko of Bosnia for goals this season.
New manager Manuel Pellegrini may give Swedish striker John Guidetti a long look during training camp and he could also dip into the transfer market to try and strengthen the club.
So far in the current open transfer window Pellegrini has brought in and signed Spanish winger Jesus Navas as well as midfielder Fernandinho of Brazil. There’s also a chance that Edinson Cavani, a Uruguayan striker with Italian club Napoli, could be brought in.
