Carlos Tevez was perhaps the most famous Premier League import to never learn a word of English.

The Argentine, who turned out for West Ham, Manchester United and Manchester City, famously had to turn up to interviews with a teammate to translate from Spanish.

That never impacted his ability on the pitch, with three league titles and a Champions League to his name in England.

However, when he controversially joined City in 2009 and became the league’s highest-paid player of all time on £250,000 per-week, his lack of English did cause some frustration.

Now, though, the Independiente manager has explained why it was an intentional choice not to learn the language and adapt to the culture.

“I had a cultural problem with them, I wanted them to learn Spanish,” he told D Sports.

“My uncle played for River Plate, he was the only River fan in the family, he even played in the reserve team.

“Just as he was about to play for the first team, he was called up for the Falklands War and he was unable to play for the first team.

“He became an alcoholic after the war, he was very bad afterwards. We were very close and that had an impact on me.

“I didn’t adapt to English culture. I didn’t like learning English because of my uncle and the culture shock that it caused.”

Adding more on his uncle’s experience of the 1982 war, he continued: “I saw my uncle in a situation where they gave the rifle to one man and the bullets to another, where they were cold and where, when the British caught them, they punished them. It’s crazy.

“Told in the first person by him, I experienced it very young and it marked my childhood.

“Playing in England for seven years was for work, but I didn’t adapt to English culture.

“I did not intend to learn English for my own reasons. My daughters speak English, they study in English.”