Carlos Tevez Calls China Spell a 'Holiday' as He Returns to Boca Juniors

Carlos Tevez was the highest-paid player in the world during his time at Shanghai Shenhua, but he didn't play like it.

Carlos Tevez has claimed that his $41m season with Shanghai Shenhua in the Chinese Super League was a "holiday" after returning to Boca Juniors in his home country of Argentina.

Despite his astronomical annual wage, Tevez's spell in China was unremarkable in terms of his performances on the pitch, with the striker scoring just four times in 20 appearances, leading to accusations that Tevez was overweight and unfit to play.

Now it seems that Tevez was never really bothered by what sort of performances he was turning in in the far East, after Goal reporter Daniel Edwards tweeted a quote from Tevez saying: "I was on holiday for seven months in China. It's fine for the Shanghai coach and president to criticize me, I didn't know what I was doing there."

As Edwards points out, there was certainly plenty of incentive for Tevez to take a step into the unknown by joining a league in a country that is determined to develop into footballing superpower sooner rather than later.

Earlier this month, the former West Ham, Manchester United and Manchester City forward returned to Boca Juniors for a third spell with the Argentinean giants, apparently in the hope of earning a place in the Argentina squad for this summer's World Cup.

Tevez, who has 76 caps and 13 goals for his country, hasn't featured for Argentina since a goalless draw with Paraguay in World Cup qualifying in October 2015.