Manchester United may have burst out of the blocks with a summer spending spree but across the other side of the city it’s all quiet on the Eastlands front.
Despite being linked with all and sundry, Manchester City’s only significant piece of transfer action so far has been to release veteran French midfielder Patrick Vieira.
Long standing Sky Blues target Alexis Sanchez appears now to be on his way to Barcelona, meaning the Citizens powerbroker's will need to reassess one of their primary targets.
Sanchez was identified as a key recruit as boss Roberto Mancini sought to add some much needed zing on the wings. With the Chilean bound for the Camp Nou, Messrs. Mancini and Cook will go back to the drawing board as the FA Cup winners plot the next steps of the rise of the blue moon.
One reason for the tentative delves into the transfer market thus far is the ongoing uncertainty regarding skipper Carlos Tevez. The Argentinian striker’s non committal to the club is no secret, and more twists and turns this week have further muddied the waters.
Over the weekend Tevez’s representative and full-time mouthpiece Kia Joorabchian hinted that his client was set to stay at the club following last season’s successes. Joorabchian said that Tevez had sought silverware and a Champions League place and after both were delivered, claimed his man, “has not asked to leave the club.”
If that was hardly a resounding statement of dedication to the cause, Joorabchian then alluded to Tevez’s well documented ‘family problems’ by saying, “It’s a case of his family coming over to him. It’s something he’s trying to sort out and once he does, everyone will be in a better place.”
Quite whether ‘everyone’ includes Manchester City Football Club and whether that ‘better place’ is indeed Manchester now seems highly improbable. Following Joorabchian’s platitude’s, footage has now popped up of Tevez criticising the city from the safety of a sofa on an Argentinian chat show.
In semantics difficult to deflect as lost in translation, Tevez - cradling one of his daughters - pleadingly decries to the female host, “There’s nothing to do in Manchester. It rains all the time and you can’t go anywhere. You begin to feel bad. I will not return to Manchester. Not for a vacation. Not for anything.”
It’s a conundrum which appears from the outset to leave City with little option than to part company with their prized asset. Tevez’s condemnation of Manchester as a place not only further alienates him from the club, but also the patrons of the club who pride themselves on their Mancunian identity.
Such detrimental words can only distance the club captain from his peers in the dressing room. The general atmosphere around the club is one of positivity yet the figurehead of the playing contingent is being spitefully negative. For all of his on-field talent and commitment, it is surely now time that City cut their association with one who does not want to be associated.
One step back for a couple forward must be City’s positive ideology. Tevez may not be replaced individually but collectively his exit may allow Mancini to subtly tinker tactics and ease some of the shoehorning which went on last campaign.
For a start, where did Tevez play? He’s never really been considered a genuine out and out frontman yet he scoffed at being asked to play out wide as part of a three. When partnered with the likes of Emmanuel Adebayor, Eden Dzeko and Mario Balotelli, Tevez didn’t particularly dovetail that well with any.
His goals ratio and significance of goals - not to mention his work-rate - means criticism must be kept at a premium, but with astute signings to indirectly replace him and shrewd judgement from Mancini, Tevez’s departure may be a blessing in disguise.
If it is taken that the likes of Adebayor, Jo, Roque Santa Cruz, Craig Bellamy and Shaun Wright-Phillips will follow Tevez in collecting their coats, City could easily accrue anywhere over £60m for the lot. Although that would represent a significant loss on the outlay on those players in the first place, it would mean any money recouped from now on would go someway to reducing the impeding deficit margins set to be governed by the incoming FIFA financial fair play rules.
City could easily be feasible and frugal this summer by streamlining their squad. Given that Bellamy and Santa Cruz didn’t feature at all last season and Adebayor and Jo did the square route of nothing between them, Mancini could easily exchange quantity for quality with no ill effects.
Without speculatively throwing names into the fray, a high class replacement for Tevez would be needed. Past that, Bellamy, Santa Cruz, Adebayor and Jo could be four birds killed with a stone meaning if Garry Cook and the network of scouts get their act together, City could replenish their striking stocks without even dipping into their own vast reserves of cash.
A couple of quality wingers later and all of a sudden, a collective of big names, big ego’s, square pegs and round holes suddenly looks like a force to be talked about and not talked up. All of this done, with relative financial compliance.
If the inevitable is to happen and Tevez moves on it’ll be best for all concerned that it’s done and dusted with the minimum of fuss and as quickly as possible. That, however, is about as unlikely as Tevez being spotted taking the kids for a walk through Alexandra Park.
Given the circumstances, City will have to settle for well under Tevez’s market value. There are few suitors who would cough up the full asking price, and any suitors full stop who could go near any wage City could offer.
In the end, it may come down to pride. The ambitions of the Abu Dhabi group revolve about acquiring the worlds best talent, but invariably that is with the aim of creating the best team possible.
At present, Manchester City would be a better team without their best player.
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