Adios amigo: Carlos Tevez to end China nightmare for return to hometown club Boca Juniors
Striker has reportedly reached agreement with Shanghai Shenhua to quit Chinese Super League after disastrous season
The saga of Carlos Tevez, the highest-paid player in the Chinese Super League, seems to finally be coming to an end with the former Argentina international reportedly quitting Shanghai Shenhua to rejoin his hometown club Boca Juniors.
According to Argentina’s Clarin Deportes, which was quoted by mainland media, the striker’s lawyers have reached an agreement with the Chinese club, and Tevez is expected to join up with Boca for preseason training in Buenos Aires early next week.
Boca will pay Shenhua US$3 million, half the sum of Tevez’s contract cancellation clause as he still has one year left on his contract, while Tevez – who is making US$20 million a year in China according to reports – will pay the remaining half.
Shenhua have given all of their foreign players until Thursday next week to rejoin the squad for pre season training in Marbella on the southern coast of Spain, but Tevez claimed earlier he would not return to the Chinese club until February 10 as he is entitled to a longer holiday.
The 33-year-old left Shanghai in November after finding out he would not be in the squad for Shenhua’s Chinese FA Cup final second leg.
Tevez was already excluded from the first leg, with Shenhua beating rivals SIPG in an all-Shanghai final by the away goals rule after an aggregate 3-3 draw.
It brought to a close an unsettled year in China for the former Manchester United, Manchester City and Juventus star, who suffered with a calf injury and went back to Argentina for treatment in August.
Tevez scored just four goals in 20 costly appearances for Shenhua in 2017 – Chinese media said each goal set the Shanghai club back RMB100 million when considering the player’s transfer fee and salary.
Shenhua limped to a 11th-placed finish in the league but their FA Cup victory put them in the group stage of the 2018 AFC Champions League, where they will travel to Japan for their opening game against Kashima Antlers on February 14.
