Manchester City have refused to allow Carlos Tevez to return to Corinthians in an €40million transfer.
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While the Abu Dhabi-owned club last night rejected Corinthians' unprecedented offer for their discontent captain, City continue to prepare the ground should Tevez ultimately require replacing. Fellow Argentina international Sergio Aguero is high on
their recruitment list.
Tevez lodged an official transfer request in January and restated his desire to leave City earlier this month, citing the difficulties of living apart from his daughters.
Though City pacified the striker last winter by telling him they would listen to offers in the current transfer window, they had been confident that no European suitor would meet their €50million asking price while taking on the players €15million annual salary - the highest in the Premier League.
The Argentine has already agreed a four-year contract with the Sao Paulo club, their president, Andres Sanchez stating that the player was prepared to take a cut on those wages "because it is his desire to return to Corinthians".
They are not, however, ready to increase the proposed transfer fee. "If City want €50m then he will stay in England," said Sanchez. "Corinthians are not going to improve the offer. If we haven't closed the deal by Sunday, it won't happen this year."
Last night a City executive confirmed that the offer for Tevez was genuine and for a full €40m, even though it surprised Corinthians' own staff. On Monday their football director, Duilio Monteiro Alves, had said the proposed deal "would be a loan. We're not going to buy, these prices are absurd".
That sum would be almost sufficient to buy out Aguero's contract at Atletico Madrid. The 23 year old has scored 74 goals in 175 La Liga appearances and is as close to a direct replacement for Tevez as exists in the highest ranks of world football.
At the beginning of the summer, Aguero stated his desire to exercise the €45m clause and move to a Champions League club.
City believe Aguero's style would be well suited to the Premier League and have had preliminary talks with the player's representatives.
They face competition for his signature from Real Madrid, who have been working to sign either Aguero or Brazil international Neymar and understood to be the Argentine's preferred destination. Chelsea also have a long-standing interest.
As Brazil's transfer window has an earlier deadline than Europe's, the transfer will have to be completed by July 20. According to Tevez's representative Kia Joorabchian - a little liked figure among City's hierachy - the player is absolutely intent on returning to a team he won the Brazilian championship with in 2005.
"His dream and mine is to return to Corinthians," Joorabchian told ESPN Brasil. "He said he has unfinished business there; he wants to return because he has a dream of winning the Libertadores. Corinthians have made the offer, now it depends only on Manchester City.
City have to make a decision. Everybody is working to make this happen: me, Corinthians, Tevez, Adrian Ruocco [an agent]. It is impossible to know what's going on [at City], but I think it's close."
South American champions Santos, bolstered by lucrative commercial deal and poised to make large profits from the European market on Neymar and Ganso, are also understood to be interested in Tevez. Joorabchian, however, said Tevez would only return to Brazil for Sao Paulo's biggest club.
"Carlitos is not in the mood to play for any other Brazilian club other than Corinthians," he said. "This is an absolute certainty. Boca Juniors and Corinthians are in his heart, he will only play for these two clubs in Brazil and Argentina.
"The priority is Corinthians, but he has other options. Carlitos was the best player in the English League, was the team's leading scorer for two consecutive years, he won the FA Cup, he's won everything in the last few years. So he has a big market in Europe. He is no longer a kid, today he is a great player. "
Questions have been asked as to how Corinthians would fund a move for Tevez that Sanchez admitted would require "20-25 percent" of the club's budget for the next four years. Corinthians are due to receive Reais100m in television revenues and has been granted Reais420m in tax breaks and a Reais400m state bank loan to construct a Reais1bn World Cup stadium.
The public, however, has not forgotten the money laundering and tax evasion scandal that surrounded their last involvement with Joorbachian as the frontman for MSI's now defunct management of the club..
