Source: Telegraph
Carlos Tevez likely to sign with Manchester City or Chelsea says Kia Joorabchian
United chief executive David Gill had been in discussions with Joorabchian, with the aim of keeping the popular Argentina forward. But, despite the offer of a five-year contract that would have made Tevez one of the highest paid players at the club, the 25-year-old has decided to leave.
Tevez, according to Joorabchian, ruled out the prospect of moving to Liverpool as a mark of respect to United fans, but appears interested in the possibility of joining City or Chelsea.
"We ruled Liverpool out because of the competitive nature of Manchester United and Liverpool," Joorabchian told TalkSport. "He has a lot of respect and a lot of love for the fans of Man United and I think he would rule Liverpool out as being the biggest competitor.
"City and Chelsea probably would be the two clubs that are on the table."
He added: "City have obviously been in contact with us. I've spoken to (City executive chairman) Garry (Cook) and to (manager) Mark (Hughes) on several occasions.
"We haven't talked to them about a contract, we haven't talked to Chelsea either about that because we've respected the fact that Carlos is a Manchester United player.
"Without getting into the point of whether he's going to City or Chelsea or wherever, the issue is that I think Carlos wants to go to a club which has real ambition.City have shown a lot of ambition with the players they've brought in in the last year or so, and Chelsea are also showing a lot of ambition – they want to win the Champions League. Both have that ambition. What is important is Carlos is very happy in England. He's extremely settled down, his family is in very good shape here, they love the country. He wants to stay here.
"He's basically given away with the two European clubs that have come to him. He hasn't totally disregarded the option but he's put it down his pecking order and I think he'd want to stay in the Premier League."
Joorabchian insisted the decision to reject a five-year deal at Old Trafford was not down to money so much as the fact United left it so late to put an offer on the table.
He said: "I don't think it's correct to say 'his face doesn't fit'. He was very much a part of the Manchester United team the last two years but clearly the last one year he's been very disappointed. I think he's been even more disappointed that it has to come to the fact that the loan deal finishes.
"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.
Joorabchian admitted his client would be leaving Old Trafford with a heavy heart.
"I think Carlos is not happy, he's a little bit sad," he said. "He's had two years at club and enjoyed two great years. They've won two Premier League titles, one Champions League title, one Carling Cup in his time and he's quite sad.
"The offer of Manchester United was a very good offer. It came about 10 days ago. It was the loan price of £9 million plus the final option price of £25.5 million. They made him a good contract but Carlos needed time.
"I want to make it very, very clear: we never ever at any time asked them for more money, or any kind of money – never at any point during the last two years.
"Even after they made their offer we never asked for more money. We never spoke about that. I think Carlos just felt over the last two years they hadn't made the effort to sign him and he needed a little bit of time.
"I think they were under a time restraint with all the situation that was going on and we couldn't get there in time."
Tevez will now take some time to consider his options, with Joorabchian expecting a decision to be known by the first week in July.And there will be no future issues with who owns the player's rights, with the next deal set to be a permanent one.
Joorabchian added: "The Premier League have changed their rules now when you do make a transfer it has to be a permanent transfer. All his rights will be sold, all his economical rights will be sold and he will belong to the club that he will play for.
"Pre-season will start somewhere between 9 and 12 July. He will have to start wherever he starts by 11, 12 July.
"So, by the first week of July, there will be a decision made, a contract signed and a club announced."
