Carlos Tevez: From growing up in an Argentinian slum, to earning the second-most lucrative contract in sport in the Chinese Super League

GROWING up, Carlos Tevez wasn’t the richest.

In fact, he was raised by his family in the notorious Fuerte Apache in the Buenos Aires Province with almost nothing at all to his name.

That is except, his skill with a football…

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Argentinian star Tevez has always stayed true to his roots, even refusing the offer of cosmetic surgery on his scars from Boca Juniors – suffered after being scalded by boiling water.

Young Tevez spent two months in intensive care with third-degree burns, but refused to tamper with them as he claimed they are a part of who he and where he comes from… And indeed who he is today.

Therefore it is truly to remarkable to think that the young boy severely burnt and growing up in poverty is now set to become the seventh-highest paid athlete on the planet.

Thanks to a generous offer from Chinese Super League moneybags-team Shanghai Shenhua, Tevez is set to rake in a staggering £615,000-a-week.

That works out at an eye-watering £32m every year… The second-most lucrative contract in all of sport.

Formula One star Sebastian Vettel rakes in double what Tevez is set to take home at £64m every, single year for the length of his current deal at Ferrari.

Outside of those two stars, the rest of the top ten are all comprised of moneybags American sports, basketball and baseball.

Zack Greinke signed a new deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks in the summer, worth an impressive £28m per year – four shy of Tevez.

In fourth is another baseball star, this time in the form of Boston Red Sox man David Price – who signed a seven-year deal this summer for £25m per calendar year.

Basketball superstar LeBron James – who led the Cleveland Cavaliers to their first-ever NBA Championship in June – will earn £25m-a-year up until 2021.

That deal broke the NBA record set earlier that summer by Memphis Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley Jr, who penned a five-year deal worth £25m per annum.

Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers also splashed out £25m per year to offer Clayton Kershaw a seven-year deal in 2014, while Max Scherzer – also in the MLB – and the NBA’s James Harden take home £24m per year.

Whichever way you look at it, Tevez’s deal is incredibly lucrative.

A sign of the times perhaps, with the influx of money in Chinese football very apparent, but either way, it’s a long way from Fuerte Apache…