Cantona criticises homesick Man City duo
442 Staff - Thursday 04 August 2011, 16:43
Eric Cantona has criticised homesick Manchester City players Mario Balotelli and Carlos Tevez.
The legendary former United forward branded them spoiled and said he doesn’t understand
why they can’t settle in the city, as well as questioning the reason
they joined the club.
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Argentine Tevez has asked to leave City to be closer to his family,
while Balotelli says he has struggled to settle in the North West but
insists he is not looking to leave.
Speaking ahead of his return to Old Trafford as Director of Football
at the newly-formed New York Cosmos, who will face United in Paul
Scholes’ testimonial, he blasted:
"With these 'unsettled' players it depends where they come from - and why they come.
"If they come from Milan, maybe. If they come from - no, I don't want to name cities, but I had a great time here.
"The most important thing for me was to play for the best club in the world with some of the best players in the world.
"That's the important thing when you're a professional player.
"The greatest time you can have is on the pitch. I loved Manchester
when I was here, and I loved the people. I had a great time."
The Frenchman also attacked City for trying to buy their way to the
Premier League title, saying that splashing the cash is not a
sustainable plan of action, adding that they will not be able to
overhaul United as the biggest club in Manchester.
"They've been successful because they won the FA Cup. But if they
only do that they will not be as strong as United because United are
working for the long term by bringing through young talent.
"When I was there I played with two generations of players. Sir Alex [Ferguson]
introduced a lot of young players, and Paul Scholes was one of them.
"Now, I come back 15 years later and the manager is still here. You
can replace players, especially a club like United with a great manager
like Sir Alex Ferguson.
"I left, [Cristiano] Ronaldo left, [Mark] Hughes left, and United are still one of the best clubs in the world."
And the 45-year-old, who made 144 league appearances for the Red Devils from 1992-97, scoring 64 goals, joked that there was no chance of him succeeding Ferguson as United manager, as he will probably die before the Scot.
"Maybe I'll die before Alex Ferguson! I'm sure he'll be on the bench forever because it's his life."
By Josh Robbins