FOR THOSE of us who frequently watched Carlos Tevez playing last season for West Ham United, after he was so belatedly selected, it is hard to believe he will be anything but a salient success with Manchester United. Not only because he has such a splendid repertoire of gifts, technique, flair, pace and courage, but because he is irrepressibly committed.

Nothing seems to demoralise him during a game. Perhaps he has not reached the apex of international football, having somewhat mixed fortunes both in the recent Copa America in Venezuela, and for Argentina in last year’s World Cup in Germany. But there is no doubt that, whether or not they have been lucky to stay up in the Premiership, West Ham would never have done so without Tevez.

Like Diego Maradona, the outstanding Argentine footballer of recent years, Tevez comes from the back streets of Buenos Aires, in his case from a notoriously violent slum. If he does not possess — and who does? — the spectacular brilliance of Maradona, he has the same colossal commitment, no doubt forged in early years when both had to battle for success. Though in Maradona’s case, it came a good deal earlier, as a mere 16-year-old.

In retrospect, it is almost inexplicable that both West Ham’s managers last season, first Alan Pardew, then Alan Curbishley, should have been, initially at least, so reluctant to use Tevez. In Pardew’s case, the motivation seemed to be his displeasure that both Tevez and his fellow Argentine World Cup international, Javier Mascherano, were, so to speak, foisted on him and the team, threatening, as he may have felt, to disrupt its balance should he use them.

By the time Curbishley took over, though under Pardew West Ham had achieved the first leg of what transpired to be a sensational double in the Premiership against Arsenal, things looked pretty bleak. Yet weeks went by before Curbishley at last decided to make use of Tevez, and those of us who were there will not forget how the tides turned when the Hammers found themselves at home to Manchester City at the turn of the year, beaten impotently in a thoroughly mediocre game. Early in the second half the West Ham crowd, long connoisseurs of good football, voiced a persistent chorus, chanting Tevez’s name. After 55 minutes, Curbishley at last conceded, and brought on the Argentine.

Almost at once, his sheer determination and ubiquitousness galvanised what had previously been a flaccid team. Neither he nor any other Hammer could score, but he came closer than anyone on 77 minutes when, exchanging passes with the Israeli international, Yossi Benayoun, he cut in from the left to send a shot whistling over the bar. But the Hammers were doomed to a 1-0 defeat.

Two days later, again inexplicably and surely self-destructively, Curbishley left Tevez out of a team that played and wretchedly failed at Reading. After the Manchester City game, he had remarked almost plaintively: “They’re calling for Tevez, who’s not scored!” At Reading, Tevez never got off the bench and West Ham, beaten 6-0, never got off the ground.

One heard the excuse that by half-time the game was lost and won, and there was little point in bringing on Tevez, which blatantly begged the question of what might have happened to improve the abject display had a never demoralised Tevez been on the park from the first, to inject some heart and determination into the rest of the team.

Shortly after the Reading debacle came an FA Cup tie at home to Brighton, an easy 3-0 win in which Tevez, increasingly incisive as the game went on, set up a goal for young Mark Noble with a deft flick, driving the ball across from the right to create another. Once, the typical skill and determination, he held off no fewer than four defenders before having a shot saved.

In the week before West Ham sensationally beat Arsenal at the Emirates, Curbishley opined that Tevez had been playing too deep. In a match utterly dominated by Arsenal, where only the superb goalkeeping of Robert Green kept West Ham afloat, Tevez was tirelessly active. In first-half stoppage time, he played the ball back to the defender Lucas Neill, whose long cross from the right was lobbed in by Bobby Zamora for the one goal of the game. Later, of course, breathlessly at the 11th hour, came Tevez’s goal at Old Trafford, where West Ham saved their skins.

At the 2006 World Cup, the Argentina coach Jose Pekerman didn’t use Tevez in the opening group game, narrowly won against the resilient Ivory Coast. When Serbia & Montenegro were thrashed 6-0 in the second game, he came on only as a 59th-minute substitute, to score his only goal of the tournament. But he played the whole game against Holland as a lone striker, and both teams seemed happy with a goalless draw.

In the next match against Mexico in Leipzig, arguably the best of the whole competition, Tevez was a 76th-minute substitute, played on through extra time with his habitual energy, Pekerman gave him a full game against Germany in the quarter- finals, but after a 1-1 draw, Argentina went out on penalties.

In the recent Copa America, this time under the aegis of veteran coach Alfio Basile, Tevez was largely firing blanks. His one goal — among the four Argentina scored against the USA in their opening qualifier — came after his introduction as a substitute in the 79th minute. A full game against Paraguay, beaten narrowly 1-0, and 78 minutes in the semi-final when Mexico, previously resourceful, were beaten easily 3-0.

Alas, it was a false dawn for Argentina. In the final, where Tevez played the full game and was booked on 79 minutes, his team mysteriously collapsed, humiliated 3-0 by their eternal rivals, Brazil.

Some wonder how Tevez will combine with Wayne Rooney who, when on form, shows much of the same skill, persistence and drive, though he is a good deal more dangerous than little Tevez in the air. Will they, perhaps, encroach on one another’s space? It seems more likely they will find a modus vivendi, especially if Tevez opts to wander to the right wing. Above all, despite his manifold talents, he is a team man rather th<NO1>e<NO>an a prima donna, always ready to run; and with unusual purpose.