Premiership / Paul Moon / 11 October 2010 / Leave a comment Bet Now View Market

Manchester City's no.32 is an amazing talent on the pitch but his ego is getting in the way of it.

Carlos Tevez is a world-class footballer with a remarkable work ethic on the pitch, but he is a barrack-room lawyer off it. His difficult character has always caused problems and his assimilation in teams throughout the Premier League has had its problems. He is mindful of fan reaction and does not want to be portrayed as the bad guy so he has learnt the art of gesture politics and it is this that makes him dangerous to managers and their careers.

Originally Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson's failure to retain the services of Tevez at an option price of £25.5m looked a huge mistake (and it might still be) but certain events since are beginning to suggest otherwise.

It is well known that Ferguson is not prone to compliance or accommodating players, Tevez realised that and despite being offered a lucrative five-year contract to one of the most successful clubs in world football he rejected it. To justify his 'gold rush' decision he cloaked the situation by citing a lack of match action especially compared to that of his supposed nemesis, Dimitar Berbatov.

If Tevez played well for United, he is playing even better for City. His goal strike rate is up to an astonishing 67% from 30%. He seems certain to translate those goals into top-class European football. He has his sights set on the Golden Boot as the Premier League's top scorer. He could also become the first City striker to hit 30 goals in a top-flight season since the great Francis Lee.

Tevez thrives on the hard working 'lone striker role' so much so that Emmanuel Adebayor complicates the attack and is actually surplus to requirements. Some claim the Argentinian is not a natural forward but 111 goals from 253 games is an extraordinary strike-rate (43%) and readily dispels that notion. For comparison Didier Drogba has scored 141 from 317 games (44%) and Wayne Rooney has 107 goals from 260 games (41%).

But goals and work-rate apart, he continues to cause problems for Roberto Mancini. Their relationship has been generally described as 'vexed at times.' The manager has even given Tevez the captaincy armband in an effort to take his mind of peripheral issues, similar to promoting a troublesome union shop steward onto the management board.

Despite this appointment there was another clash at half time in the match against Newcastle as he and his manager almost came to blows before being separated by players and staff. Tevez had decided on different tactics and started an impromptu team talk before the manager had arrived. Predictably the manager not only excused his actions but praised them describing his conduct as 'con le palle' which is Italian for 'courage.'

So how long can his bad behaviour go unchecked? The answer is simple - as long as he carries on scoring and playing well, his indiscretions will be forgiven. In world football who is playing better than him at the moment? I look forward to reading Sir Alex's marginalisation of him in his next autobiography. It will be interesting to see if he becomes another Jaap Stam.

Meanwhile his club is back in the title race. Latest Betfair prices on the Barclay Premier League 2010/11 include Chelsea [1.65] Manchester United [4.8] Manchester City [10.0] Arsenal [12.0] Tottenham [160.0] Bar [200.0].