Carlos Tevez turned his back on Manchester United. He hates the city of Manchester and he has been one long saga of troubles at Manchester City. Nobody denies his top scoring talent but he has been a nightmare to handle for City manager Roberto Mancini. After Tevez refused to come on as a 2nd half substitute in yesterday’s 0-2 loss to Bayern München in the Champions League, Mancini has had enough.
A furious Mancini has declared Tevez to be finished at the club. He has called for an emergency meeting with Manchester City’s wealthy owners from the Abu Dhabi United Group.

Mancini says the situation is impossible. When he was asked why Tevez refused to take to the field, Mancini replied: “He just refused to go on. I don’t know why. I cannot be happy with this situation. Would something like this happen at Bayern Munich, AC Milan or Manchester United? I am the manager. I decide everything. Carlos didn’t play at the start of the season because he has not had a pre-season for three years. He was not ready to play. If it was another player maybe this could happen, but for a player to refuse to go on in an important game like this is not right.”

Straight after the match Tevez told journalists: “I didn’t feel like playing, so I didn’t..” Today he has retracted it all as a misunderstanding, that he didn’t refuse to play. That’s certainly not Mancini’s view of the events.

Roberto Mancini stripped the Argentinian of the captaincy at the start of the season. Since then he has also discovered that being a regular starter is something he has to earn as well. Yesterday’s events could be the final nail in the coffin for Tevez. The manager is clear: If we want to improve like a team, like a squad, Carlos cannot play with us. With me, no – it is finished.

“It may not be my decision but if I’m deciding then, yes, he goes. For me, if a player earns a lot of money playing for Manchester City in the Champions League and he behaves like this – he cannot play again. Never. He has wanted to leave for the last two years. For two years I have helped him, and now he has refused to play. Never again.”

Fernando Torres has expressed his gratitude to the Chelsea fans for their support, despite the disastrous start at his new club. Since his £50 million move from Anfield to Stamford Bridge Torres has experienced the most miserable time of his professional football career.

Torres spoke to Chelsea TV after his first Premier League red card against Swansea on Saturday:
“Obviously, when you are doing great, scoring goals from the first day and doing good performances, it’s easy for the fans to love and support you. But the first six months for me at Chelsea have been very, very difficult and I have been struggling, and I have always had the support of the fans.
From the first day till now, every time I talk with them on the street, the cafe, everywhere, I can feel the support they are giving me so it is nice to start scoring for them.”

Torres has so far only scored three goals for Chelsea but despite poor form, terrible misses and a red card, there have been plenty of indications that he’s about to find back to his form of old. Torres will play in Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League match against Valencia before starting his three match ban in the Premier League.

A couple of hours before the transfer window closed, Tottenham blocked Giovani Dos Santos’ pending move to Spanish club Sevilla. The 22 year old Mexican’s relationship with the Spurs manager has been peculiar, ever since Harry Redknapp arrived at the club. A move away from the club was highly anticipated and the latest development has made the player furious.

Giovani came from Mexico to Barcelona’s youth academy as an 11 year old. He made it all the way to appearences in both Champions League and La Liga for the first team, before being transferred to Tottenham as a 19 year old. (These days his younger brother Jonathan Dos Santos is in the Barcelona first team squad.) Giovani was brought to Tottenham by their then Spanish manager Juande Ramos, however shortly thereafter Ramos was sacked and replaced by Harry Redknapp. The new manager acknowledged his obvious talent but criticised his attitude, complaining that the young Mexican spent too much time in nightclubs and lacked dedication in training. Giovani soon found himself sent out on loan to various clubs; first to Ipswich Town, then to Turkish club Galatasaray. At the same time Giovani worked his way into the first team of the Mexico national team, where he time and again has been outstanding in international games.

Giovani was voted runner-up as Young Player of the Tournament in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, catching the eye of football audiences around the world. He returned to Tottenham again ahead of the 2010/11 season but again found his opportunities under Redknapp very limited. He went on a successful loan spell to Spanish club Racing de Santander for the second half of the season. After the season finished he went with Mexico to play in the Gold Cup tournament in the USA. It was another chance for him to shine and help Mexico win the tournament. In the final against the hosts he scored the best goal of the tournament.

During this transfer window several clubs have chased Giovani’s signature and it looked like Sevilla had all but secured it. According to the player himself, and his agent, this move was blocked by Tottenham with less than two hours remaining.

“I was very surprised that with two hours left, my coach has changed his mind,” Giovani said in an interview with Fox Sports. “In three years at Tottenham I have not been taken into account and there has not been confidence in me at all. So I hope that this time I hear the truth when talking to him and we can get down to football. To be honest I already felt at another club, Sevilla, and we had already completed more than 50 per cent of negotiations. Almost everything had been agreed but then Spurs changed their minds, something I found very odd. Both myself and my agent have been left disappointed, sad and angry at the way Tottenham have acted. After such a long time without having any confidence in me I am now going to get my chance, which makes me feel weird. Even so, I mean to take this opportunity out of respect to the Tottenham fans and also because of the professional I am.”

Interestingly, the Tottenham fans have repeatedly called for Giovani to be given a chance to display his talent, like he already has done for Mexico and Racing Santander. So far Redknapp has seemed highly unlikely to utilise his talents. This season Redknapp has indicated that he intends to rotate his squad more, to be competitive both in the domestic league and cups and in the Europa League. Whether this will include Giovani Dos Santos we’ll have to wait and see.

Watch Giovani Dos Santos score in the Gold Cup final for Mexico:

The last of transfers from this transfer window…
Latest updates: Thursday 1 September

From Tottenham Hotspur: Striker PETER CROUCH to Stoke City for a fee of £10 million. The England international has signed a four year contract. He is the third Spurs player to have joined Stoke in this transfer window (the other two being Jonathan Woodgate and Wilson Palacios).

From Tottenham Hotspur: Right back ALAN HUTTON to Aston Villa on a four year contract.

From Birmingham City: Striker CAMERON JEROME to Stoke City on a four year deal.

From Liverpool: Midfielder RAUL MEIRELES to Chelsea for a fee of £12 million. The Portuguese international has signed a four year contract.

From Everton: Midfielder MIKEL ARTETA to Arsenal for a fee of £10 million.

From Manchester City: Midfielder CRAIG BELLAMY to Liverpool on a free transfer. The Wales international has signed a two year contract with the club he previously spent the 2006/07 season.

From West Ham United: Midfielder SCOTT PARKER to Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of £5.5 million. In the deal David Bentley will also go on a season long loan from Tottenham to West Ham.

From Birmingham City: Centre back SCOTT DANN to Blackburn Rovers for a fee of £6 million.

From Manchester United: Midfielder OWEN HARGREAVES to Manchester City on a free transfer. The injury plagued, former England international, has signed a one year deal.

From Palermo: Midfielder ANTONIO NOCERINO to AC Milan on a five year deal.

From Borussia Mönchengladbach: Midfielder MICHAEL BRADLEY to Chievo Verona on a two year deal.

From Sunderland: Centre back ANTON FERDINAND to Queens Park Rangers for a fee of £4 million.

From River Plate: Right back MAXIMILIANO PEREYRA to Udinese on a five year deal.

From Celtic: Winger SHAUN MALONEY to Wigan Athletic for a fee of £1 million.

From Liverpool: Striker DAVID NGOG to Bolton Wanderers after having spent three years at Anfield.

From SV Ried: Midfielder DANIEL ROYER to Hannover 96 on a four year deal.

From Manchester City: Winger SHAUN WRIGHT-PHILLIPS to Queens Park Rangers for a fee of £3 million.

From Fenerbache: Centre back DIEGO LUGANO to Paris Saint-Germain on a three year contract.

From Hamburger SV: Winger ELJERO ELIA to Juventus on a four year deal.

From FC Twente: Striker BRYAN RUIZ to Fulham for a fee of £10.6 million.

From Nacional: Centre back SEBASTIAN COATES to Liverpool for an undisclosed fee.

From Atletico Madrid: Midfielder ELIAS to Sporting Clube de Portugal for a fee of €8.8 million. The Brazilian has signed a five year contract.

From Auxerre: Striker IRENEUSZ JELEN to Lille on a free transfer.

From Internazionale: Full back DAVIDE SANTON to Newcastle United on a five year deal.

From Sevilla: Right back MOUHAMADOU DABO to Olympique Lyonnais on a four year contract.

From Napoli: Centre back VICTOR RUIZ to Valencia on a five year deal.

From Almeria: Winger ALBERT CRUSAT to Wigan Athletic for a fee of around £2 million.

From AS Monaco: Striker PARK CHU-YOUNG to Arsenal for a fee of around £3 million.

From Red Bull Salzburg: Goalkeeper GERHARD TREMMEL to Swansea City on a free transfer.

From AEK Athens: Midfielder PAPA BOUBA DIOP to West Ham United on a free transfer.

From Werder Bremen: Centre back PER MERTESACKER to Arsenal for a fee of €9 million.

From Fenerbache: Left back ANDRE SANTOS to Arsenal in a £6.2 million deal.

From Atlético Madrid: Striker DIEGO FORLAN to Internazionale on a two year deal. The Uruguayan veteran has been brought in to fill the gap after Eto’o left the club.

From Tottenham Hotspur: Midfielder WILSON PALACIOS to Stoke City for a fee of £6 million.

From AS Monaco: Defender CEDRIC MONGONGU to Evian on a four year deal.

From Newcastle United: Midfielder JOEY BARTON to Queens Park Rangers on a free transfer. The 29 year old has signed a four year contract.

From Aston Villa: Right back LUKE YOUNG to Queens Park Rangers on a three year deal.

From Liverpool: Left back EMILIANO INSUA to Sporting Clube de Portugal on a five year deal.

From Cesena: Forward EMANUELE GIACCHERINI to Juventus for a fee of €3 million.

From Espanyol: Striker PABLO OSVALDO to AS Roma for a fee of €17.5 million.

It only took 20 minutes for Robbie Keane to deliver his first goal for LA Galaxy. Keane was played through by David Beckham and showed off his confident experience rounding the goalkeeper before putting the ball into the net. Keane, who is Ireland’s all-time greatest goal scorer, followed up by showing off his famous cartwheel celebration in front of the sold-out 27,000-capacity stadium.
Keane’s wife Claudine cheered on from the stands with other family members as he played 70 minutes of the match, which LA Galaxy won 2-0 against San Jose Earthquakes. Manager Bruce Arena said they’re elated with Robbie at the club. Keane has still got in in him and could be a great goal scorer in the Major Soccer League.