Tevez's 9.3m feud! City reveal cost to rebel striker since his Champions League snub
Carlos Tevez's bitter fall-out with Manchester City has cost the rebel striker a staggering 9.3million in fines and lost bonuses.
On the day Mario Balotelli’s agent warned the Italian could be forced to quit English football unless he ‘gets more protection’, City told Tevez he will not be allowed to engineer a cut-price move to AC Milan.
They confirmed the huge personal cost of Tevez’s battle of wills with the club that stretches back to the Argentine’s transfer demand in December 2010.
Getting in the swing: Carlos Tevez has spent the last few months away from Manchester City's training base, enjoying plenty of sunshine and golf
Tevez forfeited 6m in loyalty
bonuses after that, and was then hit with a 400,000 fine for refusing
to warm up against Bayern Munich, another 1.2m for gross misconduct
when he returned to Argentina without permission last November, and
1.7m in lost earnings since the club stopped paying his
198,000-a-week wages.
Tevez, absent from the club for two
months, has five days to appeal his gross misconduct charge, which would
be heard by an independent Premier League panel.
The 27-year-old remains in Buenos
Aires and risks being left in limbo if no club meet City’s valuation
before the end of the transfer window.
There have been talks with Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain — who
ended their interest yesterday — but City are adamant they will not let
Tevez and his advisors put together a 20m deal with AC Milan
vice-president Adriano Galliani.
Speaking in Abu Dhabi last night,
chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak said: ‘Mr Galliani and his advisers have
developed a misplaced sense of confidence from their premature
discussions with Carlos and his advisers. If they want to be a
consideration in this transfer window they would do better to stop
congratulating one another and begin to look at how they would meet our
terms.’
Having accepted a 40m deal with Brazilian club Corinthians last summer, the Premier League leaders want 29m for Tevez.
Flashpoint: Tevez refused to warm up during a Champions League match in Munich
And Al Mubarak added: ‘Carlos remains
a player with contractual obligations to Manchester City for the next
two-and-a-half seasons. Unless we receive an offer that we deem
appropriate, the terms of his contract will be enforced.
‘Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain
approached discussions with us in good faith and it is always a
positive experience to deal with people with a professional approach. As
things stand, AC Milan isn’t an option for Carlos Tevez.’
Meanwhile, Balotelli’s agent Mino
Raiola claimed that the controversial striker could look for a move if
he believes he is being persecuted by Premier League officials.
Raiola accused referee Howard Webb of
acting like a ‘coward’ over Balotelli’s alleged stamp on Tottenham
midfielder Scott Parker.
Lonely experience: On occasions he was at home, Tevez trained on his own
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Stamp it out: Mario Balotelli's clash with Scott Parker has cost the City striker four games
If a referee says he saw everything
from one metre away and then he declares he didn’t see anything only
after the Press and Redknapp pushed him, he’s a coward. If he did not
change his mind the TV proof would not be accepted. I’m really mad with
the FA. They should send this referee to an optician.
‘Can somebody explain to me what Mr
Webb was looking at I don’t know if he saw a mouse on the field.
Frankly, we don’t believe that he didn’t see it.
‘Afterwards, Mr Webb went to Mario
and said there was nothing wrong. Why did he say in his report that he
didn’t see it to leave space for other people to judge Mario feels very
uncomfortable with this matter.’
Raiola confirmed that Balotelli wants
to contest the charge but admitted the threat of the FA increasing the
ban to five games would probably deter the club.
City coach David Platt had indicated
as much earlier in the day when he appeared at a press conference in
place of manager Roberto Mancini.
‘It’s my opinion that Howard saw the incident,’ said Platt. ‘But if we were to appeal, I don’t think we would win that appeal.’
