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Carlos Tevez is the big money buy of the season
Tevez cost city an estimated ?29m making him the seventh most expensive signing of last summer but he has already started to repay the fee by scoring 19 goals in 28 league games this season, including two hat-tricks since the turn of the year.
CARLOS TEVEZ’S controversial move to Manchester City has proved to be the most successful of last summer’s big money transfer deals according to the March 2010 Castrol Rankings. Tevez, who joined city after being allowed to leave rivals Manchester United, has shot up 120 places in the Castrol Rankings since September 2009 and now lies 27th, the largest jump of any of the players involved in the top ten most expensive switches during last summers transfer window.

City has enjoyed mixed fortunes in the transfer market though, with Joleon Lescott the biggest disappointment, falling 637 places to 805th following his €27.9m move to the club from Everton.

Castrol has applied the same expertise they apply to the development of their oils to create the Castrol Rankings - using objective analysis and highly advanced technology to measure every pass, every tackle and every single move of over 2000 players and games from Europe's top five leagues over the last 12 months. To give fans around the world a deeper insight into winning performances of some of the world’s best footballers.

That analysis shows that Barcelona’s Lionel Messi heads the Castrol Rankings followed by Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney of Manchester United, however Rooney’s former team-mate, Tevez is closing in fast on the leading group.

Tevez cost city an estimated €29m making him the seventh most expensive signing of last summer but he has already started to repay the fee by scoring 19 goals in 28 league games this season, including two hat-tricks since the turn of the year.

The biggest transfer of the summer involved Ronaldo, who has responded to his world record €94m move to Real Madrid by performing even more effectively than he did for Manchester United. This season he has scored a goal every 98 minutes compared to once every 153 minutes last season and has fired in more shots than any other La Liga player at an average of seven per game.

The winger, who has moved up from third to second in the Castrol Rankings since September 2009, was the top scorer in the Champions League with seven goals in five games up until to the end of March. In addition Real Madrid have won all 13 of the league games in which Ronaldo has scored.

Xabi Alonso (up 50 places to 69th) and Kaka (up 45 places to 40th) have both moved steadily up the Castrol Rankings since teaming up with Ronaldo at Real Madrid while Zlatan Ibrahimovic has responded well following his Euro69.5m switch from Internazionale to Barcelona and is now ranked 9th after starting the season at 49th.

Lescott’s story is very different, with the defender’s decline reflected in the fact he has won only 52 per cent of his aerial duels compared to 69 per cent with Everton last season.

Castrol Ambassador and 1998 FIFA World Cup winner Marcel Desailly said: “It is not easy for players involved in a big money transfer because there is immediate pressure on them to perform. Tevez has shown he can handle that pressure and while a lot of players would be disappointed to leave Manchester United, he is playing with even greater motivation and has responded to the increased responsibility he is now carrying.”

Desailly added: “On the whole, the performance of the big money transfer players has been impressive and confirms why they were a target in the first place. Good players respond well to being surrounded by even better players, especially someone like Xabi Alonso whose style of play is perfectly suited to providing a platform that allows his more attack minded teammates to fully express their talents.”

Rooney was the top performing player throughout March, scoring six goals in four matches to lift him five places to third. Messi extended his lead above Ronaldo and Rooney at the head of the Castrol Rankings in March, scoring 10 goals in seven games for Barcelona, including back-to-back hat-tricks in La Liga.

The Castrol EDGE Performance of the Month in March came from Paris Saint-Germain’s Mevlut Erding who struck a hat-trick in his side’s 4-1 Ligue 1 victory against Sochaux. It was the first treble of the Turkey international’s career who found the target with five of his seven shots during the game and completed 22 of 27 passes. 




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