TOTTENHAM MANAGER Harry Redknapp says he tried to sign Carlos Tevez from Manchester City in January before being priced out of the deal.
Argentina international Tevez had been expected to depart in the January transfer window, having fallen out with City manager Roberto Mancini in September. The former West Ham and Manchester United striker ended a period of self-imposed exile in February and regained his place in the team after apologising to Mancini.
Spurs manager Redknapp has now revealed he attempted to bring Tevez to White Hart Lane during the January transfer window.
“I said to the chairman ‘Can you get me Carlos Tevez?’ That’s what I said in January. ‘Can we get Tevez?’ It wasn’t possible, but that was my dream,” Redknapp told the Daily Mirror.
“Daniel (Levy, Spurs chairman) would have loved Tevez, but it wasn’t do-able because his wages are whatever they are – 200,000 pounds a week. It was not possible at Tottenham to buy him.
“With Tevez, it was me thinking: ‘He’s not in the team, he’s fallen out with Mancini.’ You don’t know, do you, unless you ask. It was just a little try. Tevez is a fantastic player, whatever you think of what he has done off the pitch. When he puts a shirt on he doesn’t stop running, working. He’s enthusiastic, he can play and he can score goals.
“He’s fantastic. He’s never tired because he’s had four months playing golf, so he wouldn’t have asked for a rest.”
Redknapp also dismissed criticism of his failure to rotate players, something which has been blamed for Tottenham’s form slump in the final months of the season.
“We have been around in football long enough to know it’s a fickle game,” he said. ”You lose a couple of games and you’re a mug, you win a couple and you’re a genius. I’m just the same person I was six months ago, three months ago.
“I haven’t done anything different with the players, training is the same, I talk to them the same, they eat the same food, they come in at the same time. I lost a few players, other than that nothing has changed.”
