Man City’s handling of Carlos Tévez ‘was triumph over player power’

Manchester City’s handling of the Carlos Tévez saga marked a victory over player power for the Eastlands outfit, according to the club’s chairman Khaldoon al-Murabarak.

The 28-year-old striker has scored 56 goals in 98 appearances since moving from Manchester United to their bitter derby rivals City in 2009.

The Argentina international was at the centre of controversy last season when he missed five months of the campaign after a falling out with manager Roberto Mancini, when the former West Ham United striker refused to come off the bench in City’s 2-0 defeat by Bayern Munich in the Champions League in September.

Tévez took himself off to his native Argentina but eventually returned and apologised to Mancini, and even played a part in helping City beat Manchester United to the Premier League title, scoring a hat-trick against Norwich City.

The controversial striker revealed in June that he no longer wants to leave City and is happy to stay at Eastlands, with Tévez’s only wish to end his career at Argentinian outfit Boca Juniors.

“It was a landmark. We cannot allow ourselves, as a club, to be mucked around,” Al-Murabarak said in a new book on the club called Richer than God.

“It was a hell of a gamble for me, not to let him leave for AC Milan in January, because he could have sat out all year, but not played for us and lost his value.

“But I was firm that we are not rich people to be taken advantage of, to give him what he wants and let the market screw us.”

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