He was welcomed with a billboard and kickstarted an exciting generation for Manchester City, but today is the day Carlos Tevez officially marks the end of his playing career.
The Argentine striker has confirmed that he is now ready to stop playing football after losing his number one fan, his father. Although this may come as no surprise as he has not played since pulling on a Boca Juniors shirt last year and embarked on a European tour of former clubs.
The individual’s last game was the League Cup semi-final defeat to Racing last year, a game that proved his last without even knowing it, since rejecting offers from Major League Soccer to prolong his career.
In a television interview, Tevez spoke about his connection with Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan after City made a controversial approach for the Champions League winner from across the city.
"“After the final, the Sheikh put the family on a private plane to go to Abu Dhabi. When we arrived, red carpet, seven-star hotel, crazy… I went to see him and the guy looked at me, hugged me and we had a very good relationship.”"
He captained City to their first trophy win, the FA Cup in 2011, and kickstarted their dominance within the English game, winning a Premier League title and the league’s Golden Boot in the process.
He has made his intentions to be a coach and is currently working on an ‘exciting project’ with his brothers. That project will likely see him remain in Buenos Aires where he continues to be a considerable presence in the poorer neighbourhoods of the capital.
El Apache started his career with Boca but moved to Corinthians in Brazil, where he admitted the move was to help his family for financial reasons. Scoring a controversial goal after joining West Ham in 2007, before moving north to Manchester. Spells with Juventus, Boca and Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua followed before he returned to his first club again in 2018.
The club are unlikely to instruct a statue outside the Etihad or the club’s training facility as his status at the club fails to match Sergio Aguero, David Silva or Vincent Kompany, but Carlitos will go down as a Manchester City legend for the memories he created for the Cityzens.