Former Manchester City and Juventus striker Carlos Tevez has launched a scathing attack on Chinese football as he claims the Chinese Super League won’t be able to compete with the world’s leading leagues in at least ’50-years’ as their players are ‘not naturally skilled.’
The 33-year-old signed a lucrative two-year contract for Shanghai Shenhua in December which is worth an estimated £630,000-a-week, making him the highest paid player in the world.
"Techniquement, ils ne sont pas bons" 👊 L'ITW surréaliste de Tevez sur les joueurs locaux du championnat chinois 😲🇨🇳⚽️ #BreakingFoot #CSL pic.twitter.com/BV7XhwfmuX
— SFR Sport (@SFR_Sport) September 19, 2017
However, after making just 13 appearances to date, Tevez has failed to meet the expectations of the club’s chairman Wu Xiaohui.
With his time in China seemingly not panning out how he expected, Tevez told French broadcaster SFR Sport: “In South America and Europe, players learn to play football when they’re kids, but not here. So technically they are not very good.
“Their football is very different. The fans treat it very differently as well. And I don’t think they are going to get to the same heights, not even in 50 years.”
According to the Telegraph, however, the quotes appear to have come from an interview he gave in May as the South China Morning Post claim Tevez’s criticism of Chinese football was first made in an interview with La Casa del Futbol, before SFR Sport tweeted the clip on Wednesday.
Despite being a relatively dated interview, Tevez has still failed to find his feet in China as he has scored just three goals in his 13 appearances, and was labelled ‘overweight’ by his new manager Wu Jingui last week.
The 33-year-old is regularly booed by the Shenhua supporters and as a result reports have suggested Tevez may be prepared to return to his boyhood club Boca Juniors, despite having one-year remaining on his contract in China.