Man Utd’s ‘largest traitor’ noticed internet price sky rocket with £610k per week payday

Leaving Manchester United soured his relationship with Red Devils fans, but one ex-Old Trafford star went on to win a Premier League title and then bag a mountain of cash

If you ask most fans what they remember about Carlos Tevez’s time in the Premier League, some might say Manchester City’s 2012 title win while others might pick out the 2008 Champions League victory with Manchester United.

But there are likely three words which will be at the top of the list: Welcome to Manchester. That famous sign appeared after Tevez’s crosstown switch from United to City in 2009.

It was a move which saw him branded as United’s ‘biggest traitor’ by fans and it might be what the majority remember about the Argentine – who fell ill last year before recovering – but he has another claim to fame as well.

Tevez, who turned 41 today, January 5, left City in 2013 for Juventus, before returning to his first club, Boca Juniors, in Brazil two years later. He would return there again in 2018 – but first came a highly lucrative spell in China, where he was reportedly the highest-paid footballer on the planet.

It’s no surprise that the Chinese Super League outfit shelled out the big bucks for Tevez, who by then had amassed three Premier League titles, the FA Cup, League Cup, Champions League, Club World Cup, two Serie A titles, one Coppa Italia, an Italian Super Cup and many other trophies to boot.

However, while on the pitch his move was disastrous, it could hardly have been more valuable, as the then-37-year-old’s switch to the Chinese Super League with Shanghai Shenhua saw his net worth rise to £21million.

It is believed he was earning an outrageous £610,000 per week, while playing with former Premier League strikers Demba Ba and Obafemi Martins for a team nicknamed “The Blue Devils” – curiously a combination of the two Manchester outfits he represented.

Shenhua are also understood to have paid his former club Boca Juniors £9m for his services, in what would have been an outstanding deal for the Argentine side, considering Tevez’s age. He was signed by fellow South American star turned manager Gus Poyet, who made the acquisition of Tevez one of his first big decisions at the club.

Tevez only made 20 appearances for the Chinese side, scoring just four goals, and contributing a measly five assists. However, he only spent one year in Asia as he swiftly returned to Boca barely a year later after leaving his boyhood club.

While his stay at Shenhua was short, he still earned a whopping £29m during his stay in China, meaning each goal he scored cost the team around £7.25m.

And to make matters even worse, he later described his move to the Chinese giants as a “vacation”. In an interview with La Nacion, he said: “When I landed in China, I realised that I wanted to go back to Boca, I was on vacation for seven months.”

Tevez was released by Boca in 2021, which brought the curtain down on one of football’s most colourful careers.