Gossip: Tevez Mania - Day 3 …
The Story So Far:
United are negotiating with Carlos Tevez’s representatives led by businessman Kia Joorabchian, to take the player on loan with a view to a permanent deal worth gazillions.
The Independent reports that: “United had hoped to announce that they had signed Tevez in a complicated arrangement which will see the 23-year-old move to Old Trafford on an initial two-year loan with a view to a permanent three-year deal being signed if United take up an option. Tevez will be paid £90,000-a-week by United, taking the overall cost of the deal to £60m.”
The player will take a break from involvement in Argentina’s pursuit of the Copa America and submit to a battery of medical tests, so the press alleges, which upon successful completion will pave the way towards a move to Old Trafford before United’s title defence begins.
A statement from Joorabchian’s lawyers confirmed that talks with the player are at an advanced stage. “We confirm that Carlos Tevez has, with the knowledge and permission of West Ham United Football Club, been in discussions with other clubs. Subsequently, personal terms have now been agreed with Manchester United Football Club.”
Tevez told the Mirror newspaper: “Manchester United is a team with a very offensive, attacking style of play. This is the system I always desire. I only know Alex Ferguson from what I see from the outside but I believe he is a great manager and that I will be a good pupil for him.
“I have spoken with Veron about Manchester United and about how difficult it is for the team and for the players to triumph because of all the pressure put on them. There is almost an obligation to win every game when you are at Manchester United. Nothing else is acceptable.
“That is very difficult for most players to live with but believe me when I say that those sort of challenges are attractive to me. I enjoy that pressure. It makes me fight harder.
“I have demonstrated many things in South America already in clubs like Boca Juniors and Corinthians where the expectation is so great from the fans. I have been successful and done well under that sort of pressure and now I want to repeat the experience in England.
“I think I have already shown some of that with West Ham. I loved that experience and it was always going to be a special club to make me leave there. But a club like Manchester United is one of football’s superclubs.”
The Mirror states: “United will pay businessman Kia Joorabchian £6m for Tevez and at the end of an initial two-year deal, they will have the option to buy him outright for £15m.”
The player is technically a West Ham employee but United, through their clandestine negotiations, understand that the Argentine forward is no longer under contract at the east London club.
West Ham beg to differ. Chairman Eggert Magnusson said: “Carlos Tevez is a registered West Ham player, contracted to the club until June 2010. There is no agreement with West Ham for Carlos Tevez to leave the club and we expect him to return in time for next season’s preparations. No decision on his future can be reached without the agreement of West Ham.”
The Premier League back the club wholeheartedly and according to press reports, are threatening to block the move unless United begin direct talks with Magnusson. “As far as we are concerned any deal to take Carlos Tevez away from West Ham has to be done directly with the club,” a Premier League spokesman said.
United believe they have acted correctly. A club spokesman said: “Carlos Tevez was given permission to speak to us and do a deal.”
United remain quietly confident that West Ham and Joorabchian will work out an arrangement that allows the deal to go ahead. The club expects Tevez to link up with his new team-mates on the club’s pre-season tour later this summer.
This confidence is borne of Magnusson’s failure to take up the option of signing the player and the Hammers’ written authorisation to Joorabchian to hawk the player to interested clubs.
“West Ham are understood to have had first refusal to sign Tevez on a three-year deal for £40million but declined the opportunity and gave Joorabchian written permission to begin negotiations with other clubs three weeks ago,” the Manchester Evening News revealed.
West Ham face a messy court case or a football inquiry if they cannot find a way to satisfy Joorabchian and the Premier League, according to the Independent newspaper.
“The club face either a court battle with the entrepreneur or having to submit themselves to another Premier League disciplinary panel. To complicate matters further, it is unlikely that the panel could meet before the start of the season, with West Ham then facing the very real threat of points being deducted in the next campaign.
“A Premier League source said last night that West Ham found themselves ‘between a rock and a hard place’ and may well decide that facing Joorabchian in court with the likelihood that they would lose the case and have to pay substantial compensation on top of the £5.5m fine already imposed upon them by the League’s panel is preferable to another inquiry.”
With both sides squabbling over who owns the rights to Tevez and who gets the transfer / loan money, United must be rueing the player’s indiscretion in talking to a reporter before the deal was completed.
