Carlos Tevez has reiterated his desire once again to leave Manchester City for family reasons.
The Argentina captain, who joined City from rivals Manchester United in 2009, said he cannot continue to live in the north west without his two daughters.
“I need to be closer to them and to spend more time with them,” Tevez said in a statement. “Living without my children in Manchester has been incredibly challenging for me. Everything I do, I do for my daughters. I need them to be happy because my life is about them now. I need to be in a place where they can adapt. I hope that the people understand the difficult circumstances I have been living under the past 12 months, in regards to my family.”
Tevez, who signed a five-year contract with City following a £25.5m move from Old Trafford, thanked the club’s hierarchy for their support and asked for fans to empathise with his personal predicament.
“It is with great regret that I have to inform Manchester City of my wish to leave the club,” added Tevez, who is currently on international duty with hosts Argentina in the Copa America. “I would like to state that I have great respect for the club, its supporters and the owner, Sheik Mansoor, who has been nothing other than respectful to me. I hope that most of the City fans will understand that I have given them my all on the pitch and that my dedication to the City cause has been 100% on the pitch. I hope I have done my bit to help City continue their progress towards their ambition to be champions of England and to advance in the Champions League. I have no doubt that the players and management of City will achieve great success in the future.”
Tevez’s estranged partner could not settle in Manchester and returned to Argentina with their two daughters Katie and Florencia, but a move to Spain or Italy could persuade his family to return to Europe.
Losing Tevez is a huge loss for Man City, who will be playing in the Champions League next season. It will be interesting to see what superstar City target to replace Tevez.
The challenge for Man City is finding someone with the ability to pay the £40m transfer fee for Tevez plus meet his wage demands of around £200,000-a-week.
Italian club Inter Milan have already told BBC Sport that they will not attempt to sign Tevez because of his wage demands, which leaves potentially AC Milan and Juventus in Italy. Neither club has a big enough revenue stream to pay the kind of wages that Tevez wants.
In Spain, Barcelona don’t have that kind of money, while Tevez does not seem to fit the type of team that Mourinho is building in Madrid.
One potential option in Spain is Malaga, who were bought last year by Qatari investor, Abdullah ben Nasser Al Thani. Thani wants to build Malaga into a La Liga powerhouse, and buying Tevez would make a big statement.
One other potential suitor for Tevez is France’s Paris Saint-Germain, who are owned by the Qatar Investment Authority. There are few more beautiful cities in the world than Paris, which should please Tevez’s estranged partner.
