Chelsea battle Man City for signature of Carlos Tevez

20 June 2009 22:51
Having sanctioned the £80m sale of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid 10 days ago, United are now set to make a £25m move for Lyon forward Karim Benzema, as well as closing a £17m deal for Wigan's Antonio Valencia.[LNB]Tevez told Telegraph Sport in May that he would leave but that he was keen to stay in England and now the 25-year-old faces a straight choice between City and Chelsea having rejected a five-year deal worth £110,000-a-week.[LNB] Related ArticlesUnited confirm Tevez lossTosic: We knew Ronaldo was offFootball fixtures 2009/2010Fixtures: Big Four clashesFootball must tame economicsSport on televisionCity are in pole position because of his desire to remain in the North-West but it is understood that Chelsea are ready to up their efforts to secure Carlo Ancelotti's first major signing.[LNB]Tevez's representative, Kia Joorabchian, told United chief executive David Gill that his client would not be accepting the club's contract offer just hours before the club's deadline of midnight on Friday.[LNB]A United statement said: "The club agreed to pay the £25.5m and offered Carlos a five-year contract. Disappointingly his advisers informed the club that he does not wish to continue playing for Manchester United." [LNB]Joorabchian insisted that Tevez would not consider joining Liverpool because of their rivalry with United. "[Tevez] has a lot of respect and a lot of love for the fans of Man United and I think he would rule Liverpool out. City and Chelsea probably would be the two clubs that are on the table," he said.[LNB]Joorabchian said a decision would be made by the first week in July and that there would be no future issues over who owned the player's rights because the next deal would be a permanent one. [LNB]City, who should complete the £16.5m signing of Roque Santa Cruz from Blackburn tomorrow, are prepared to pay Tevez £140,000-a-week, but Chelsea think they can hijack the deal.[LNB]United will move quickly to replace Tevez and Lyon are now bracing themselves for a bid for Benzema. Lyon sporting director Bernard Lacombe said: "He [Benzema] is with us, but nobody knows what will happen." [LNB] 

Source: Telegraph