The rumours circulating around Carlos Tevez regarding whether he will stay at Manchester City or leave for pastures new is the most overcooked lingering smell of the summer; like an insect ridden carcass lying in the searing heat of the Savannah being picked upon by a gang of vultures who have acidic urine running down their legs; that’s how potent it has been to the noses of the media which is demonstrated by the unrelenting coverage of the saga. But if he quits for another club will their progress be stilted for the coming season?
If Tevez does go then I can see Edin Dzeko, Mario Balotelli and new signing Sergio Aguero forming lethal partnerships next season should they get the chance in getting to grips with the English game. But Tevez scored a quarter of City’s goals last season so would be sorely missed should he seal a move away from Manchester. The case often crops up that this sort of thing happens at every club and teams move on, but there are differences. I often use Manchester United as an example when discussing football in what clubs, managers, players etc… can do because they are the benchmark to all English teams at the moment and have been for the best part of twenty years.
So what I would say is that yes, teams in the past such as United have parted with big game players and have still gone on to achieve success, but I summon that they did so for the significant reason that they were already established. When they sold Mark Hughes, Paul Ince and Andrei Kanchelskis in the summer of 1995 the repercussions were not damaging as they already had some fine youth players waiting in the wings waiting to take their place and also because much of the team that were assembled there had already tasted numerous success’ including the league and cup Double only a year previously.
The same applies to the great Liverpool side of the 1980’s whom parted ways with their most prolific goalscorer Ian Rush in 1987. John Aldridge, who signed for the club in February of that year in order to replace the inevitably departing Rush, more than adequately took over the mantle by notching 26 goals as the Reds nearly won a league and cup Double in their first campaign without the freescoring Welshman: regaining the title having come runners-up the season prior and then narrowly losing to Wimbledon in the FA Cup Final.
As I said, these two teams were established winners so it didn’t affect them as much. It certainly didn’t hinder Alex Ferguson’s United side in 1995 as it may have done say in the summer of 1991, because at the time they had not yet established a regular winning formula. They had won the FA Cup in 1990 and the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1991, but that particular team featuring the likes of Hughes, Brian McClair, Steve Bruce and co had not yet made a dent on the English league’s hierarchy. My point is that if they did lose important players such as Hughes and McClair around that period then it may have caused significant unrest in a side that were just starting to breed a winning process.
One of the other differences is money: the Blues have far more financial power than their near neighbours have ever had. It has to be spent right, but it undoubtedly helps a club who can so easily replace a star player with another one who is just as good with many footballers being very attracted to the offer in wages if not on-the-pitch matters – they are human beings after all.
So even though the cases at United and Liverpool hold true, it shouldn’t impact negatively on Roberto Mancini’s side especially as they have now acquired their main target, the Argentina international Aguero from Athletico Madrid, a man with an almost identical goal per game ratio as Tevez, but whether they can improve on last season’s third place finish is another matter entirely. The loss of the 2010/2011 Premier League joint top scorer could upset the team balance that they have come to go by that helped yield their highest league position since they came second in 1976/1977.
If Mancini does not replace the Argentine then it will affect his side more than a big loss has affected teams like Man United and Liverpool in the past as they look to ameliorate on their league position last term. With City in the Champions League, the pressures and tribulations are likely to be greater in the coming season and with that a big squad is needed. It is one that they undoubtedly have and although they have out-and-out strikers on their books such as Craig Bellamy and Emmanuel Adebayor, the loss of one their most influential players of the past two campaigns – ones of which have seen them make such great strides in comparison to previous years – will be a huge blow. If he decides to stay on then Mancini’s side could well be favourites for the title itself. Whatever happens they will surely be causing havoc near the top, but unlike their two near rivals they have not been an established threat to the teams around them; they are not yet used to being a consistent menace to those competing for the league championship, which is exactly what Tevez would be should he stay.
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City Will buy the Title this year, next year or the year after its as Rafa said A FACT. Probably under Mancini, but if not someone else.