Roman Abramovich has sanctioned a lucrative offer for Carlos Tevez as Chelsea attempt to beat Manchester City to the signature of the Argentina international and flex their financial prowess for new manager Carlo Ancelotti. Tevez's future became a straight fight between Eastlands and Stamford Bridge yesterday when it was confirmed he had rejected a £25.5m move to Manchester United and would be following Cristiano Ronaldo out of Old Trafford.
City remain favourites to sign Tevez on an estimated £150,000 a week but have yet to finalise an agreement with Kia Joorabchian, the head of the consortium who own the 25-year-old's economic rights. City are also acutely aware of Chelsea's determination to provide Ancelotti with marquee signings this summer.
Chelsea have missed out on several stellar names in the past year, including Kaka and Robinho, who joined City for a British record £32.5m transfer fee last summer having been close to moving to Stamford Bridge. Glen Johnson and Franck Ribery, two targets for this close season, are expected to join Liverpool and Real Madrid respectively. Tevez, therefore, has emerged as a test of Chelsea's pulling power under Abramovich.
United yesterday announced that Tevez had rejected their offer of a permanent five-year contract following a further round of talks between Joorabchian and David Gill, the club's chief executive, on Friday night.
The deal would have been worth £110,000 a week, placing the striker alongside Rio Ferdinand and Dimitar Berbatov as the club's highest earners. United set a deadline of midnight on Friday, having finally agreed to pay the option price on 3 June, only for Joorabchian to announce last night: "I think it was a little bit too late and there wasn't enough time for Carlos to think about it."
Old Trafford officials, however, believe 16 days was sufficient time for Tevez to decide whether to remain with a club he has known for two years and claim Joorabchian told Gill the player would be leaving on Friday. "The Club agreed to pay the option price of £25.5m and offered Carlos a five-year contract," announced United. "Disappointingly, however, his advisers informed the club that he does not wish to continue playing for Manchester United."
Despite their initial reluctance to meet the option price agreed when Tevez joined the club on loan in 2007 the Argentinian's exit represents a significant setback for Sir Alex Ferguson, who rang the forward frequently during his holiday in the south of France in an attempt to convince him to stay. With Ronaldo expected to complete his world record £80m transfer to Real Madrid next week, Tevez's decision means United have lost the source of 40 of their 119 goals in all competitions last season. United will now intensify efforts to entice the Lyon forward Karim Benzema to Old Trafford.
Joorabchian blamed procrastination by United for the player's departure. "I think Carlos is a little bit sad," he said. "He's enjoyed two great years at the club. They've won two Premier League titles, one Champions League title, one Carling Cup in his time but they didn't really give him any offers. Over the duration of two years there was a lot of talk about signing him but we never actually got to the point of actually receiving any offers for him.
If it was, let's say, Wayne Rooney's contract finishing six months before, or Cristiano Ronaldo's contract finishing six months before, would they have tried to secure their services a bit sooner? He has that little bit of a feeling that maybe he wasn't the most wanted person at United. Rightly or wrongly, that's how he feels."
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