Monday 13 December 2010

Manchester City's mistake in demanding Tevez stay!

Over the last few days and weeks more and more has been written about the feud between Carlos Tevez and his manager Roberto Mancini.

From offers and a bumper new contract and a multi million pound one off incentive payment if he signs, money is clearly no issue, as it never has been during Sheikh Mansour's rein at Manchester City.

But the Argentine international is adamant that he is not interested in cash, and that he moving for family reasons, which have always been an issue.

This added to the fact relations with executives have broken beyond repair, executives believed to be Garry Cook and Brian Marwood.

Tevez insists he wanted to leave in the summer, but was dissuaded by former agent and owner Kia Joorabchian.

The blues have made the decision not to sell following meetings with the owner, with the City captain also having three and a half years still to run on his contract.

If he is forced to stay though, the 26-year-old has made it clear he will simply retire.

An outcome that could force City to take action against Joorabchian.

It is no doubt a very complicated situation, but one which could have a very simple outcome.

In modern football it is next to impossible to keep a player who wants to leave, we have seen this numerous times over the last few seasons alone, think Cristiano Ronaldo and Javier Mascherano.
Deep down City no they have to sell after their last ditch attempt at throwing bags of money at the striker failed.

An offer they must have thought no one would ever be able to refuse.

Although this is the first sign of a crack in the Eastlands hierarchy. there are still many top class players who would join the club.

Despite Tevez's importance to the club, losing him wouldn't be the worst possible outcome.

Not with the money they have and a month in which to do business.

Keeping the player would only have consequences behind the scenes, but squad morale would begin to dwindle if players bore witness to the constant feuding on a daily basis.

If Manchester City want success this season, it could be in their best interest to cut their losses and splash out on a new superstar.

Thursday 2 December 2010

Future Stars - Ioannis Fetfatzidis

After easing in to this new feature with Liverpool defender Martin Kelly, we have now spread our wings further afield to Greece.

Olympiacos' attacking midfielder, who can also operate on the wing, is causing a lot of people to sit up and take note in his native country.

Fetfatzidis joined the Olympiacos academy at 12, rejecting overtures from other Greek giants AEK Athens and Panathinaikos.

He made his debut against Atromitos a little over a year ago, and went on to make his Champions League bow a few days later as a substitute at Standard Liege.

The Greece national team was the next calling, making his under-21 and senior debut's both this year.

This season has seen the youngster feature more for his club, with Olympiacos finally realising his huge potential and rewarding him with a new contract.

Europe's top team swill now have to pay in excess of £10m, Fetfatzidis also seen his wages rise significantly in a contract which now runs until 2015.

His main attributes is his dribbling ability, along with a great technique for someone so young.

If he can continue to improve in this way, Fetfatzidis could be a huge name for Greek football for many a year.