Boca Juniors once offered to pay for plastic surgery to remove the scars Carlos Tevez received when a pan of boiling water scalded his face as a child. He declined. Last season the Argentina international was held up as both saviour and pariah for his influence on West Ham's remarkable escape from relegation and, this summer, a prodigious career has been on hold due to the third-party controversy that has clouded his time in English football.

Yesterday he was asked whether he felt added pressure to deliver for Manchester United at Fratton Park tomorrow night now that Wayne Rooney is in absentia for two months. You can guess the response. "I have never felt pressure in football. Whenever I go out on to the pitch I just enjoy myself," the 23-year-old said, unveiled with appropriate timing by United as they attempted to put a collective brave face on the loss of their £27m striker.

If the football field is, like Rooney, a sanctuary for the forward from a rough neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, then it is with understandable relief – and all due respect to his stricken team-mate – that he welcomed confirmation from Sir Alex Ferguson that his United debut has been brought forward from Sunday's Manchester derby.

"It is a big blow to lose him and it will be difficult to replace him, but Manchester United have the squad to cope," Tevez said. "I just want to get into the side first, get to know the players and, hopefully, reproduce what I did last season."

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