‘Overweight’ Tevez turns into Shanghai team’s huge burden

SHANGHAI: When Carlos Tevez emerged in airport arrivals in Shanghai he had a bunch of flowers thrust into his hands and his signing was heralded as a coup for Chinese football. A blue Shanghai Shenhua scarf was thrown around his neck and hundreds of fans mobbed the Argentine forward, who had just sealed a transfer deal making him at that moment the best-paid footballer on the planet.

But just eight months later, the 33-year-old has become a symbol of Chinese clubs’ largesse that the Beijing government hopes will never be repeated. Chinese fans and media have an unflattering nickname for Tevez, “Very Homesick Boy”, a play on how his name is pronounced in Chinese and a nod to problems he has had in his career settling anywhere.

Tevez, who reportedly pockets about $850,000 a week, has never stuck around for long at any club in his career. Nobody expected him to stay long term in Shanghai. But even his knockers are surprised at how quickly his Chinese adventure has unravelled and how poorly he has done on the pitch during a season dogged by injury and bad form. Shenhua coach Wu Jingui last week accused Tevez of being too overweight to play.

BAYERN FRET OVER NEUER INJURY

BERLIN: Bayern Munich face an anxious wait to discover the extent of the recurrence of a foot injury suffered by club captain and Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. Bayern said Neuer will undergo a scan on Tuesday which will reveal the full nature of the new injury to the same foot he fractured last April. Neuer only made his comeback from that initial setback on August 26.

DEMBELE TO UNDERGO SURGERY ON TUESDAY BARCELONA: Barcelona’s record $125 million signing Ousmane Dembele will undergo surgery on the torn hamstring that has ruled him out of action for up to four months in Helsinki. “Dembele travelled on Monday morning to Helsinki where he will undergo surgery to repair a rupture of the biceps femoris tendon.