Car‘lost’ Tevez: Why are the Premier League’s best players looking to leave?

Tevez welcome's you to Manchester-sourced from http://www.footy-boots.com

What a picture… the image that rubs salt in to the wounds of bitter rivals Manchester United…Carlos Tevez is a blue, ‘Welcome to Manchester’.

How United fans will smile at that billboard picture now… just a season and a half later and Tevez looks like he is ready to turn his back on the blue side of Manchester. Despite City claiming Tevez will not be leaving Eastlands, Tevez has claimed he will quit if he isn’t allowed to leave.

In days gone by hearing the news that the best player of one of the top Premier League clubs wants to leave, would have been shocking news. But not now, not in 2010! Tevez’s desire to leave City just reiterates the thoughts of other top players in the Premier League. He joins a long list of players who have sounded their unhappiness at England’s top clubs; Fabregas, Rooney, Ronaldo, Xabi Alonso, Mascherano.

But want away players haven’t always been the norm in England’s top league. There was a time when a player was committed to his club…when players dedicated their best years to their club.

It wasn’t just in times gone by that players committed themselves to a club, even in Premier league history there are players who have been loyal to their clubs. Giggs, Scholes, Neville, Tony Adams, Ian Wright, Carragher, Gerrard, Shearer… just a few to mention.

But the similarity between all these players is their nationality, they are all British! In a footballing world where over 60% of the players in the Premier League are foreign is it that the best players in the premier league don’t buy in to the British ethos…are these players only loyal to their pay packet and greed?

Well not all foreign players are disloyal and many have gone on to play for our top clubs for many a year. Just look at Dennis Bergkamp, the Dutchman’s career at Arsenal between 1995-2006 spanned over 11 years.  His loyalty to the club wasn’t questioned once in this time, and when leaving Arsenal there was even talk of him coaching the club he loved.

Then what about Rooney, the recent fiasco where he expressed his desire to leave Old Trafford shows that British players are also greedy and craving money. I’m certain that Rooney is at the right club if he wants to win awards and be one of the world’s best players but yet he still put in a transfer request…for me this can only be an indication of greed!

I remember when Xabi Alonso was just about to leave Liverpool…he commented that with the Euro strengthening and with high income Tax in the UK he can earn more money playing in Europe. Through the early 2000’s the pound was strong and players could earn far more money here than in Europe, but this is no longer the case a change to the Economic market in recent years has changed everything and multi-million pound players who can see the chance to earn money elsewhere will definitely take that opportunity.

Maybe I am being too harsh on the Premier League’s finest, Tevez has even said that he would take a pay cut to leave City…ok he is the richest clubs best paid player, so a pay cut would still earn him well over 100,000 per week but you have to commend Tevez on his desire to move for other reasons than money.

It is interesting to see a player who once said ‘he is at home in England’ appear to fall out of love with the country. Maybe it is because it has been very cold recently or because his side-kick Mascherano has abandoned ship to Barcelona but what is clear, Tevez is home sick. The culture and even the style of football is so different to that of Argentina. Also Tevez’s daughters both live in Argentina adding another complexity to his situation. This all demonstrates that today’s top players, who are not from our shores are home sick. They have lives and comforts away from here. Maybe a continental climate and lifestyle such as Spain would suite South American and European players better than our own.

Or maybe foreign players are loyal…but just not loyal to English clubs. Look at Cesc Fabregas! The young lad is an absolute genius on the football pitch and has a clear love for Arsenal and as a consequence is the captain of the club. However this has still not stopped the Spaniard from wanting to leave the club for his beloved Barcelona. Barcelona, the best club on the planet, who play the best football, who produced Cesc Fabregas! Leaving the Catalan giants for Highbury at just 16, Cesc left with Barcelona in his heart. And 7 years with the gunners haven’t changed that. Cesc is still very much a Catalan and I am sure he will go back to the Nou Camp sooner rather than later, but this is a demonstration of loyalty, just not loyalty to Arsenal.

In modern football there is no longer that desire to settle. Players want to move on! Some claim it is to progress their career, some want to earn more money. But what is apparent to me is that when players move from other countries to play in England there will always be that element of unhappiness. Can you ever be settled in a country with customs different to your own?

Let me know what you think and please get commenting!