Manchester City's
prolonged pursuit of England captain John Terry
has almost allowed Carlos Tevez to creep in under the Eastlands
radar - but the Argentine's imminent arrival will be portrayed as a
defining moment by the club's hierarchy.
Robinho's capture was
a stunning statement of intent by the Abu Dhabi United
Group hours after they took control at Manchester City
and they will regard Tevez as another significant marker in their
mission to reach the Champions League.
Mark Hughes and Manchester City's millions have attracted big
names since their elevation to the game's financial elite, but
Tevez is a name known on a more global scale than Gareth
Barry, Craig Bellamy, Wayne Bridge or Roque Santa
Cruz.
And the fact that Tevez added gloss to that
worldwide reputation at Manchester United - and where he
was idolised to an exaggerated degree by the Old Trafford crowd -
will only add another layer of satisfaction to this deal.
This is not a
guarantee that City will gatecrash the top four, but it is an
indication of how far they have come in 12 eventful
months. The mere suggestion a year ago that City would
spirit Tevez across Manchester would have been the cue for laughter
or perhaps a short period of incarceration.
Finance will have been
a huge driver in this deal for Tevez and to suggest
otherwise would be naive in the extreme, but City can afford this
deal and plenty more besides.
And they will regard it as an investment well made if he can
accelerate their progress in line with the demands of
chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak.
How Tevez adapts to finding out how the other half lives in
Manchester after his success-soaked seasons at Old Trafford will be
key to the move.
Tevez, in my opinion, will not be a huge loss to Manchester
United and his very obvious milking of Old Trafford's affection to
apply pressure to Sir Alex Ferguson and the club's board towards
the end of the season was lacking in subtlety and occasionally bordering
on the provocative.
He did not produce the goals to justify the extent of this
adulation - affection he is unlikely to see or hear replicated on
his return with fierce rivals City. No-one can ever doubt his
application and effort, but United need more if they are to repeat
their Premier League title triumph and return the Champions
League to the trophy room.
United insisted they were willing to pay the £25.5m to secure
Tevez's services, but in reality he was never coming back to Old
Trafford at that stage. The point of no return had already been
reached.
The absence of Tevez, as well as the departure of Cristiano
Ronaldo, makes more room in the middle for Wayne Rooney - a
superior talent and goalscorer to the Argentina international.
This, however, does not make him a questionable purchase by
Hughes. He is an upgrade on what City currently have and he will be
at a club where - and even Eastlands fans must recognise this -
aspirations and expectations are currently on an entirely different
level.
Would a huge outlay on Tevez have taken United on to another
level? No. Will a huge outlay on Tevez improve City and help them
towards their eventual target? Every chance. This alone makes
perfect sense of City's new signing.
He fulfils two time-honoured transfer criteria. Is he better
than what City currently have? Can they afford him? Yes, and most
emphatically yes.
In the wider context, Tevez's arrival and the deadly serious
pursuit of Terry, Everton's Joleon
Lescott and even the failed attempt to
buy Barcelona's Samuel Eto'o is a reflection of a new
reality in football.
Manchester City, and the billions that make them major players
in the market, are not going to go away. And they may just be
revelling in the discomfort of established heavyweights as they
exert their muscle.
Chelsea have not appreciated City's attempts to strongarm them
into selling Terry while Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez made
veiled references to Gareth Barry ending up at Eastlands as opposed
to Anfield.
Benitez - with his new
£17.5m full-back Glen Johnson in very close proximity - complained:
"The market is now crazy. It is all money, money, money
now."
Which begs the question: If Liverpool's owners Tom Hicks and
George Gillett suddenly produced £100m for Benitez to spend, would
he insist on handing it back to them on the basis it would advance
the game further towards insanity? Possibly not.
Chelsea had no second thoughts about preying on those poorer
than themselves and rightly so. It is the financial law of football
and always has been.
The problem comes when, as invariably happens, someone bigger
eventually comes along and you are on the receiving end. Tough to
take when you have had a taste of that power.
There is an element of delicious irony in the boot suddenly
being on the other foot - and you suspect there will not be a
howling mob gathering at the gates of Eastlands to complain about
their club's twisting of the transfer market.
Every supporter of every other club in the Premier League would
love to be in City's position now. There will be stumbles along the
way - the botched Kaka deal
being a prime example - but these are more exciting
times then when home-produced talent such as the now returned
Shaun Wright-Phillips
was heading for the exit.
The so-called "Big Four" is not a cosy private members' club and
there is no law against Manchester City, or indeed anyone else,
trying to muscle in by whatever means they have at their
disposal.
Tevez may not be missed at United but, as a club in the process
of major transition, he will enhance Manchester City and this makes
the deal sound business for Hughes.