'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.
'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."
'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."
Meanwhile the Times bizarrely claims that Tevez won't sign for Liverpool "out of respect for the fans" however he it seems he is quite happy to be linked with Ciddy. Some people just don't get it, do they?