Man Utd announce Tevez departure

Tevez will not be playing at Old Trafford in a United shirt again

Manchester United have confirmed that Carlos Tevez is leaving the club.

United were willing to pay the £25.5m to turn the striker’s two-year loan move into a permanent five-year deal but Tevez, 25, has decided to move on.

“Disappointingly, his advisors informed the club that he does not wish to continue playing for Manchester United,” read a United statement.

“The club thanks Carlos for his services over the last two seasons and wishes him good luck for the future.”

Tevez became a crowd favourite during his time at the Old Trafford club and helped the side win the last two Premier League titles, the 2008 Champions League trophy as well as last season’s Carling Cup.

But he has joined Cristiano Ronaldo in wanting to exit the club, with his final appearance being as a substitute in United’s loss to Barcelona in the 2009 Champions League final.

606: DEBATE A souring in the relationship between club and player appears to have proved the main reason for Tevez leaving Mandeep Sanghera – BBC Sport

United said they were willing to make Tevez “one of its highest paid players” but were told by the Argentine international’s advisors, who own the player’s economic rights, that he would not be accepting the offer.

The forward’s advsier, Kia Joorabchian, said: “During the last two years he wasn’t really offered a contract. He had never been offered a permanent stay there and over the last 10 days Manchester United did make an offer to him.

“I just want to make it very clear that Carlos has never asked for any money. He has never asked for an increase in his salary and we never asked for a greater sum of money.

“Its purely that they needed an answer in a very short amount of time and Carlos needed a bit more time to think about it so the decision was made that everyone walks their own way.”

Manchester City and Chelsea now appear to be the two main clubs vying for Tevez, who – according to Joorabchian – is unlikely to move to Liverpool because of their intense rivalry with United.

City are flexing their financial clout as their manager Mark Hughes tries to put together a squad capable of challenging the top four of United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal.

“We’ve held discussions with some of the interested parties over the last week and the fact is that Carlos will not make any decision until the first week of July,” Joorabchian told BBC Five Live.

“This is a very important decision for him. He is deciding on the future of the next five years.

“This is purely and simply his personal decision. It will not be anyone else’s decision. It will not be mine or other parties involved.

“He has to sign the next five years with a club he believes has got ambition to go forward in the Premier league, a club with history and one that really wants to achieve things.

“Carlos does not want to go to Liverpool because of their competitive nature with Manchester United. He does love the United fans very much and has a lot of respect for them.

“I think that if you look at Carlos’s history, he has always gone into grassroots clubs like Boca Juniors and Corinthians, who had not won anything and were at the bottom of the league when he joined them and he won the title with them in his first season.”

If Carlos had been offered a contract six months ago at United he wouldn’t have hesitated (to sign it) Carlos Tevez’s adviser Kia Joorabchian

Joorabchian added: “Manchester City is one club and Chelsea is another and there are also others as well.

“I think it will come down to what Carlos feels is the best club for him. He’ll make a decision on which club has the biggest ambition, who he feels has the strength to go to the next level.

“City, Chelsea and most of the clubs have shown that they have that ambition. He will evaluate what he feels is the next big challenge in his life. Carlos has always loved big challenges.”

Tevez scored 15 goals last season but was frustrated at continually finding himself on the bench for key games and was wary of the issue ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Despite the affection of United’s fans, he has reportedly complained of a lack of respect from the club and his treatment at their hands.

Joorabchian recently explained that United’s failure to sign his client up permanently last summer and in January 2009 were behind Tevez’s complaints.

And he added: “If Carlos had been offered a contract six months ago at United he wouldn’t have hesitated [to sign it],” he said.

His departure now leaves United manager Sir Alex Ferguson without two of his most influential players of recent seasons.

Wigan midfielder Antonio Valencia has been linked with a move to United as the club try to replace the duo.