China PR (National Football)

The Carlos Tevez story took another twist at the start of January, when his hometown club Boca Juniors announced he was rejoining the club after a year away in China. His return to Argentina and Buenos Aires, where he first starred for Boca as a teenage sensation from 2001 until 2004, put an end to his much-publicised misadventure in the Chinese Super League.

Tevez, who has won league titles in Argentina, Brazil, England and Italy, is one of the greatest strikers of his generation, although he's known as much for his exploits off the pitch as on it. Headlines stick to him like rainy clouds to a skyline in Manchester, where, of course, he played for both of the city's famous clubs.

Tevez caused a stir in December 2016 when Chinese Super League team Shanghai Shenhua revealed it had signed him from Boca on a two-year contract. Forbes reported wages of $820,000 a week, or approximately $40 million for the year he played in China. However, it quickly emerged that this was not to be an adventure he would fully embrace.

"When I landed in China, I realised that I wanted to go back to Boca, I was on vacation for seven months," Tevez told TyC Sports on Monday, as per La Nacion.

Four goals. Forty million dollars. Ten million per goal.

On his return to Argentina, the country's famous former World Cup-winning captain, Diego Maradona, who is a close friend of Tevez, rejoiced at the idea that Tevez had hoodwinked his Chinese employers to Argentinian sports newspaper Ole (h/t Goal.com): "He went to China. He filled up Santa Claus' sack with dollars and came back to Boca. Perfect."

Tevez's move to China started with promise. He arrived in Shanghai at the peak of the Chinese Super League's spending spree on overseas footballers, which included the purchase of Brazilian star Oscar, who joined cross-city rivals Shanghai SIPG from Chelsea. The total outlay exceeded the English Premier League's spend over the same winter transfer window, per the BBC.

"With Tevez's arrival, there was a lot of speculation," says Michael Church, a freelance journalist based in Hong Kong who has been covering Asian football for over 20 years. "There was a lot of talk about this huge salary that he was supposedly on.

"It was a weird situation. Shanghai Shenhua had qualified for the preliminary rounds of the Asian Champions League. They had a new manager, Gus Poyet, and Tevez was signed. With a new coach and a superstar player allied to everything the club already had—Shenhua are one of the older clubs in Chinese football with a strong history; they've been Chinese champions—the hope was that they would kick on. But they started the season on a downer."

In February 2017, in the club's one-legged playoff in the AFC Champions League with Australian franchise Brisbane Roar, Shenhua lost 2-0 at home. Tevez did better in his league debut in Shanghai the following month, scoring a penalty and providing two assists in a 4-0 win against Jiangsu Suning, but then things went awry again.

Shenhua only picked up one point in their next three games before Tevez got a calf muscle injury. While Tevez was sidelined, the club won a couple of games on the bounce without him, including a 3-2 win at Changchun Yatai in which expatriate teammates Fredy Guarin and Giovanni Moreno both scored.

A media storm ensued when pictures were released of the injured Tevez at Disneyland in Shanghai with his family on the day his teammates were battling to defeat Changchun Yatai in the northeast corner of China. The optics looked dreadful.

"There was a sense that this guy says he's injured but here he is out enjoying himself with his family," says Church. "He's earning this huge salary. Why is he not on a treatment table getting treatment and recuperating? From very early on there was a sense from many fans and the media here that this guy is taking us for a bit of a ride.

"I've talked to people at the club and the mere mention of his name—this was back in the summer around June-July—would have them furious because the general sense was that he was unprofessional, that he wasn't serious. He wasn't coming in and doing what he was paid to do."

Tevez brought an entourage to China of 20 from Buenos Aires, excluding his family, per Matias Bustos Milla, a journalist with the Argentinian newspaper Clarin, but he struggled to acclimatise in China. "With the food, there are people who suffer a little more, and that happened to Tevez," Poyet said, per the Guardian. "We had a barbecue … and we had to remove the Chinese food."

According to Church, he looked "disinterested" on the pitch. He pined for home. Fans gave him the nickname "Homesick Boy." In early August 2017, the club allowed Tevez to go back to Argentina for treatment on his calf injury. He returned to China at the end of the month overweight, according to the club's new coach, Wu Jingui, per the Telegraph. He was later left out of the team for both legs of the Chinese FA Cup final, in which Shenhua defeated a Shanghai SIPG team featuring Hulk and Oscar.

"During his stay in Shanghai, he found a lot of excuses to go back to Argentina," says Ma Dexing, deputy editor-in-chief for Titan Sports, the most widely circulated sports magazine in China. "I think he was not happy when he played for Shanghai Shenhua. Maybe he played here just for money. The club gave him so much money."

Dexing says the fans were powerless to motivate him: "In China, the situation for professional football clubs is different to European clubs. In Europe, fans have a lot of influence about a club's decisions, but in China it is totally different. The fans have no influence over the club. The owners paid Tevez his money, not the fans. The fans may be angry, but they could do nothing."

The club's owners made public their frustration with Tevez in September 2017. Shenhua's chairman Wu Xiaohui complained in an interview with Shanghai TV about "a lack of winter training and match fitness" from his star player. "He didn't meet our expectations," said Xiaohui, per Goal.com.

Tevez responded a couple of days later with a damning critique of Chinese footballers' technique in an interview with French television station SFR Sport. "Chinese footballers are not as naturally skilled like South American or European players," he said, "like players who learned football when they were kids. They're not good. Even in 50 years, they still won't be able to compete."

The criticism stung. "His comment was criticised by so many Chinese players," says Dexing. "They asked him: 'Why did you come to China?' The players and the media criticised him so much. They said, 'The Chinese league wants quality players but you did not show your quality.'"

"I've talked to a lot of the coaches who work in Chinese football," Church added. "Privately they might tell you about concerns, but they try to project as positive an image as possible. It's about encouraging the most populated country on the planet to put in place the building blocks to become a genuine power within the game globally.

"Tevez was the highest-profile player in China. Not necessarily because of playing ability, but because of his track record of being troublesome when he was at Manchester City and the baggage that comes with him; he attracted a lot more attention than any other players who have come here. To have him come out and be critical of Chinese football was [disappointing]."

Tevez has a scorched-earth policy with several of his former clubs. He departed from Brazilian side Corinthians prematurely—after firing them to a league title in 2005—because of "broken promises" from the club, per These Football Times. At Manchester City, he absconded to Argentina on unauthorised leave for two months mid-season in 2011-2012, per the South China Morning Post.

He left Boca Juniors in December 2016 out "the back door," per La Nacion.

"The Boca fans felt it was a deception," says Bustos Milla. "When Tevez returned from Juventus in 2015, he said that he wasn't motivated by money—because he was making a lot more money in Europe—that money couldn't buy happiness. When a year-and-a-half later, he left to go to China for millions and millions of dollars, Boca's fans were enraged."

Tevez divides opinion in Argentina because of his ties to the country's biggest club, Boca. But instinctively Argentinians love him more, for example, than Lionel Messi, who is more introverted and from the lower-middle classes, a few rungs higher on the social ladder than Tevez.

Tevez is from Fuerte Apache, one of the poorest barrios in Buenos Aires. "Tevez is more charismatic. He dances when he scores. He smiles easily. It's easier to identify with him than it is with Messi," Bustos Milla said.

Argentinians are forgiving of his errant ways, Bustos Milla added. "When he was a young player at Boca, he also had issues and controversies. This comes from his upbringing. He comes from a very poor background. He didn't have a formal education. He left school very early. He's very emotional, more than he is rational. He's impulsive. It makes him fight with some trainers, but because of his charisma he believes he can solve everything with a smile, with a joke."

It's unlikely the Chinese Super League will be as understanding of his erratic behaviour. "Everybody is happy he has left Shanghai Shenhua," says Dexing. "Even his teammates are happy. He left a bad image of himself."

Dexing says, however, that the Chinese Super League's status has not been badly affected by the episode. It will recover. "Other foreign players like Dario Conca and Paulinho have been good. Everybody is happy about this. In the future when fans and the media will talk about Tevez, they will mention he was a bad example. He was a failure."

                  

All quotes and information obtained firsthand unless otherwise indicated.

Follow Richard on Twitter: @Richard_Fitz 

Marcello Lippi has been appointed manager of China, per the Associated Press (h/t the Guardian). The Chinese Football Association confirmed the 68-year-old's new position on Saturday. 

Lippi, who won the 2006 FIFA World Cup with Italy, takes over a nation that has reached just a single World Cup: the 2002 tournament in South Korea and Japan.

Significantly, Lippi has now become the highest-paid manager in the world. Kaveh Solhekol of Sky Sports provided details of the 68-year-old's eye-popping salary:

https://twitter.com/SkyKaveh/status/789783134996951040

Lippi's deal came about when current club Guangzhou Evergrande cancelled his contract. The announcement was made on the Chinese club's official site (h/t ESPN FC's Michael Church).

Lippi was supposed to return to the club he guided to a hat-trick of Chinese titles next year. However, the termination of the club deal was merely the precursor to Lippi's step back up to international level: "The former Juventus coach met with Chinese Football Association (CFA) President Cai Zhenhua alongside the president of the Evergrande Corporation, Xu Jiayin, in Beijing and is now expected to sign a four-year contract on Monday."

Lippi had retired from club management in 2014, citing his age as a factor, per BBC Sport: "I don't want to coach anymore, I'm too old."

Clearly, the lure of a lucrative contract, as well as the significant sporting challenge, has been enough to tempt the Italian back, albeit to a domain with less of the day-to-day intensity of club management.

Hiring Lippi is intended to give Chinese football a credibility boost. The country's top league is loaded with money and some star names, including Colombian striker Jackson Martinez and Brazilian maestro Alex Teixeira.

Yet success has been tougher to acquire at international level. Church detailed how China has earned just a single point from four qualifying matches for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

It's why Lippi is a good choice to replace former China manager Gao Hongbo. Credibility is the cornerstone of his resume. Not only did he win the World Cup with Italy, Lippi also reached four UEFA Champions League finals with Juventus, winning the tournament once.

His track record is set to give Lippi virtual carte blanche to improve China's standing in the international game, according to Church, who noted the Italian will play "a major part in overhauling the entire structure of Chinese football."

The start of the process has to be qualifying for Russia. It will begin for Lippi on November 15, when his new side takes on Qatar, per FIFA's former China site.

A lot can happen in football in the space of a week, but when Marcello Lippi told reporters last week that this would be his final year with Chinese side Guangzhou Evergrande there was little reason to doubt his honesty.

Per Football Italia, the Italian had told Marca that 2014 would in fact be his final year in club management. A similar message, meanwhile, had been propagating in China for some time, with hopes abundant that he would take the reins of the national side.

On Friday, though, the Cantonese side officially announced on the club website (Chinese) that "Il Mister" and his backroom staff had put pen to paper on a new three-year deal with the club.

On what is Chinese football's transfer deadline day, Evergrande had secured the biggest coup of a window in which they had also attracted Azzurri international Alessandro Diamanti to head East just months ahead of this summer's World Cup.

There is no doubt Lippi, who was previously said to be earning €10 million per year, per ESPN's John Duerden, will have been rewarded greatly for his commitment to the Evergrande cause.

Such sums, though, are negligible to a company which, per Titan Sports newspaper via Caijing finance (Chinese), boasted a cash balance of around €5 billion in their last half-year financial report. When it comes to football, Evergrande are determined to make a name for themselves.

Since buying Guangzhou Pharmaceuticals FC at the end of 2010, they have achieved a promotion followed by three straight Chinese Super League titles. At the end of 2013, they took their biggest step yet toward becoming Asian football's first "superclub" with success in the AFC Champions League.

In just 18 months, Lippi had taken his side to the top of Asian football and, over the course of the campaign, they were the best side by some distance. At the Club World Cup in Morocco, only inexperience and profligacy cost them what would have been an entirely deserved victory over Atletico Mineiro to claim third place.

Asian football and, indeed, Chinese football may not be at an ideal standard for the time being, but it is certainly improving. Evergrande, though, have their bar set much higher.

Part of Lippi's role in Guangzhou is to oversee the formation of an elite-level professional club. The club's 2,300 student academy was founded 18 months ago with the help of coaching staff from Real Madrid and facilities that would be the envy of any side worldwide.

“Our long-term strategy is to use teenagers to turn Evergrande into a team of only domestic players in eight to 10 years, making them stars in China, Asia and the world,” commented Evergrande Group owner Xu Jiayin when unveiling the academy in 2012, per a recent in-depth report by the Financial Times' Demetri Sevastopulo.

It is an ambitious target, but in modern China anything is possible—albeit that football success stories have been rare in the country. Lippi has brought in a number of Italian colleagues, including staff to oversee the development from youth team to reserve and first team, in order to give the project the best chance of success.

The club's spending has been lavish, but there has long been talk of a long-term balancing of the cash flow. For much of their time at the helm, though, such talk was at best seen as fanciful.

However, their success in the AFC Champions League captured attention across the country and has altered the financial landscape. Evergrande were China's first continental champions since Liaoning in 1991, and the country has evolved dramatically during the intervening time period, including football turning professional.

As reported here by Netease (Chinese), the club announced earlier this month a shirt sponsorship with a Nissan subsidiary company officially worth €13 million per year. Other sponsorships, including those with Nike, an alcoholic drinks provider and an electronic goods store are said to almost double that total.

Beyond that, they have also begun selling advertising within the Tianhe Stadium for considerable sums, while the Chinese Super League as a whole has also benefitted from the attention.

Ping'an Insurance Group were last week announced as the naming rights holder for the league in a four-year deal, per Hu Yuanyuan on China Daily. It is suggested that the deal is worth around €18 million per season to the league, per Chongqing Evening News via the South China Morning Post's Darren Wee, representing a substantial increase on previous years.

While standards in Chinese football remain low, the recent influx of money from the property development sector is seeing the Super League begin to take a rapid upward trajectory following a particularly difficult decade post-World Cup 2002 qualification.

The country's president, Xi Jinping, is widely known to be a football supporter and, per China Daily, has spoken of his desire to see the country succeed at a World Cup. The majority of the heavy spending in Chinese football has begun since he was tipped to ascend to power, with political motivations a contributing factor behind much of the investment.

For now, Evergrande remain at the forefront of Chinese football's growth, although the likes of Shandong Luneng, Beijing Guoan, Guangzhou R&F and Shanghai Greenland Shenhua are all keen to get in on the act and have the wealth to do so.

As both an adviser and a manager, Lippi has been an invaluable asset to the Evergrande Group. Indeed, his wealth of experience is the basis upon which owner Xu is looking to build a footballing giant.

In 2014, they will once more be favourites to sweep aside all before them in Asia and continue their development into a club of global standing. In securing Lippi for a further three years on Friday, their dreams no longer appear quite as lofty as they had just a few short days ago.

Guangzhou Evergrande may not mean much to most football fans at present, but there are few more interesting stories in world football at the present time. Regardless of the money available to any manager, Lippi is seen as the key piece in all that they hope to achieve both on and off the pitch.

Until the end of the 2017 season, at least, fans of the club can be assured that their development is in safe hands under the man who has won football's biggest prizes in Europe, Asia and on the international stage.

Follow @chris_elastico