Carlos Tevez looks set to sign for Ligue 1 leaders Paris Saint Germain after they and his present club Manchester City reached agreement yesterday according to sources within PSG and club owners QSI.
PSG have offered the Argentinian sriker – who has been out of favour at City since refusing to go on during a Champions League match – a three-and-a-half year contract though no fee has been announced.
City did not confirm the news but the sources said the deal is subject to the 27-year-old – who is due in Paris today – agreeing to it.
Ironically, Tevez’s move to Italian champions Milan fell through last week because of the refusal of their Brazilian striker Alexandre Pato to move to Paris SG in a reported €28 million deal.
PSG’s Brazilian sporting director Leonardo has always been an admirer of the former West Ham, Manchester United and Boca Juniors star and renewed contact with him following his falling out with Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini.
However, the arrival of two-time Champions League winning coach Carlo Ancelotti at the end of December tilted the balance and the Italian has been vociferous in recent days in calling for an experienced world class striker to be signed by the club.
Tevez has enjoyed success at virtually every club he has played for, albeit never overstaying his welcome.
He landed the Copa Libertadores and the Intercontinental Cup with Boca Juniors in 2003 and earned himself the nickname from the fans of ‘the people’s player’.
He moved on to Corinthians and inspired them to the Brazilian champion-ship before transferring to West Ham United, whom he helped stay up in the Premier League on the last day of that season, scoring against Manchester United.
He moved to Manchester United from the London club and collected the 2008 Champions League before a controversial move to United’s city rivals where he was at first an inspirational influence.
Awarded the captaincy he went on to score 21 goals last season but his increasingly tense relations with Mancini came to the boil when, according to the Italian boss, he refused to go on as a substitute during the Champions League group stage defeat by Germany’s Bayern Munich last September.
Tevez was suspended for two weeks and had a four-week fine halved after the intervention of the Professional Footballers Association (PFA).
Tevez has not flourished so much for the national side, never becoming a regular first choice and at last year’s Copa America, under then coach Sergio Batista, was played on the left wing to little effect.
He said afterwards that it had been a pointless exercise as his preferred position is striker.