Very good article by Chris Wheeler in the Daily Mail this morning:
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2547040/Forget-burly-physique-beard-tattoos-Im-big-softie-heart-says-The-Beast-Alvaro-Negredo.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... gredo.html</a>
"Forget burly physique, beard and tattoos... I'm a big softie at heart, says The Beast
As one Spaniard was announcing his arrival in Manchester on Monday, another was reflecting on a spectacular start to his career here just a few hundred yards across the fields of Carrington.
Alvaro Negredo cost Manchester City significantly less than the £37million their neighbours have paid for Juan Mata, but it is hard to think of anyone who has had a greater impact on the Barclays Premier League this season than the man they call The Beast.
Negredo, 28, has been a vital cog in City’s goal machine, contributing 23 goals in 33 games to a team now dreaming of the Quadruple. It has earned him cult status with his new supporters and spread fear among opponents.
However, sitting in an office at the club’s training ground, talking eloquently through an interpreter about his achievements this season, his upbringing in the tough Vallecas neighbourhood of Madrid, his devotion to his two-year-old daughter Aitana and, of course, that nickname, there is nothing wild about Negredo. It soon becomes clear the image of the brooding Spaniard with dark beard and tattoos is misleading.
‘I’m just the opposite of a beast,’ he says. ‘I’m totally different. I’m very affectionate as a person and I like to spend time chilling out with my family.
‘If anything, my daughter has maybe taken this image of the beast to heart because she’s the wild one! It came about when I was at Almeria. It was more of dressing-room thing really. None of the fans knew me as that, but it became more public when I got here.
‘At first, I was called The Shark because I had a bit of a Mohican haircut and I used to celebrate goals by clasping my hands above my head.’
These days, each goal is followed by a kiss of the inside of his right wrist and then the left bicep.
Negredo’s wrist is tattooed with the letters CRJ, the initials of his elder brothers Cesar and Ruben and parents, Jose Maria and Juana. Those of his wife Clara and their daughter appear on his bicep.
The striker also has Aitana’s little footprint tattooed on the left foot that has despatched so many goals this season.
It’s clear that family means a great deal to Negredo. The sacrifices his father made working long hours as a taxi driver in Madrid to provide for his three boys have not been forgotten. Preferring to play football with his older brothers and their friends, Alvaro grew up idolising Gabriel Batistuta and Brazil’s Ronaldo. It was there, on the streets of Vallecas, that he learned to take the hard knocks.
‘My brother Cesar was a centre back. I used to really wind him up because I’d be trying all kinds of tricks on him, nutmegs and things like that, and he’d just kick me,’ says Negredo. ‘He’d knock me to the ground and not even offer a hand to help me up.
‘I speak to them every day. They are footballers themselves and are still making a living from football (Cesar at CD Covadonga and Ruben at CF Reus Deportiu). They’ve not had the fortune to get as far as I have but they’re really pleased for me.
‘We think that, secretly, the reason our dad worked so much is because it was bedlam at home with me and my brothers arguing so much. He’s still a taxi driver. I’ve tried to tell him to give it up but it’s impossible to prise him out of his taxi .
‘I know that my parents gave up a lot and throughout my life I’ve been marked by my childhood experiences. I’ve not forgotten where I came from.’
It says much about Negredo’s talent that on the two occasions Real Madrid let him leave, they inserted a buy-back clause into the deal.
On the second occasion, stuck behind Cristiano Ronaldo, Raul, Karim Benzema, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Gonzalo Higuain and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, coach Manuel Pellegrini not surprisingly advised him to accept a move to Sevilla. Negredo admired his honesty.
‘He didn’t make me go through the entire pre-season in the hope that I might be featuring,’ he recalls. ‘He doesn’t hide from talking to you face to face and that’s what a dressing room wants from a manager. He’s one of the reasons I’m here at City. It was never tough for me meeting up again.’
David Moyes made an unsuccessful £9million bid to sign Negredo for Everton last January. West Ham scouts also monitored his progress and there was talk of interest from Hull.
But when Pellegrini and City came knocking with the offer of a four-year deal worth £75,000 a week last summer, Negredo knew the time was right to join former Sevilla team-mate Jesus Navas and the rest of City’s Spanish-speaking contingent.
A deal worth £16.4m plus £4.2m in add-ons was agreed, and it quickly became clear from Negredo’s debut on the club’s tour of Hong Kong that Pellegrini had found a typical English No 9 in Spain. ‘Feed The Beast and he will score,’ has since become a popular twist on an old favourite at City.
Once again, however, the image does him a disservice. Negredo can operate as a traditional target man but he can offer so much more than an aerial threat in terms of his creativity, vision and movement.
It’s no surprise that he looks equally comfortable playing alongside Sergio Aguero or the bigger Edin Dzeko. ‘A lot of people maybe make the mistake of thinking I’m just a big strapping centre forward who is going to be barging into defenders and creating trouble physically,’ he says.
‘Yes, there is that side to me, but I think I have an extra plus where I do try to show that little bit of invention. I try to surprise people with a touch or something spectacular in a finish.’
It has helped Pellegrini’s rampant team rack up an astonishing 107 goals this season as they challenge on four fronts. Barcelona and Chelsea might pose substantial obstacles in two of those competitions, but City are through to the Capital One Cup final against Sunderland and lie menacingly in second place in the Premier League table.
Can they win all four? ‘It’s possible simply because we’re still involved in all four competitions,’ Negredo says.
‘To be totally honest it would be tough to imagine both myself and the team would be scoring quite as many goals as we have. But I think there is more to come. As an individual and a team we’re not going to settle for what we’ve achieved so far.’
Tomorrow night, City face a difficult trip to White Hart Lane, where Negredo is expected to come up against Roberto Soldado, one of his rivals for the No 9 shirt in Spain’s World Cup squad. Having missed out in 2010 before picking up a Euro 2012 winner’s medal, Negredo is determined to make it to Brazil.
He says: ‘Soldado and Fernando Torres come to mind as rivals in this country, as well as Michu who has been out injured, but there are lots of players in Spain fighting for it as well. It’s going to be a battle.’
And as everyone knows by now, The Beast loves a battle."
