It has been a cold winter for Carlos Tevez. The fiery Manchester City striker has dug himself into a situation that has hurt his career, reputation, and bank account.  The trouble began last with rumors of disagreements between Tevez and manager Roberto Mancini, things were left on a low simmer and promptly boiled over during City’s Champions League match with Bayern Munich where the striker refused to enter the game as a substitute. Tevez’s refusal arguably cost the club advancement to the knockout stages of the competition with a furious Mancini publicly lambasting and dropping him from the first team. Relations between player and club predictably plummeted to a new low with Tevez leaving the club to winter in Argentina. City subsequently docked him wages and actively sought to sell him to other clubs in response.

The Tevez situation has been cast as a personal spat by much of the soccer world; it is a regrettable product of the Argentinian’s temper, the Italian’s pride, and the modern reality of the game, but ‘Così è la vita!’ with eyes directed at the heavens. But some suspect that there is more to the situation than a simple clash of personalities. Many believe it is Kia Joorabchian, Tevez’s agent, who is encouraging the Argentinian to agitate for a big money transfer. Why? Because it is Joorabchian who has the most to benefit from Carlos Tevez on the move. Continue reading “Carlos, Kia, and Third-Party Ownership” →