Tevez to sign for Chelsea?

[Scottish Mag 3]

WHILE Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur were focusing on the scrap for fourth place in the Barclays Premiership, Chelsea were yesterday closing in on two important transfer targets as they attempt to tighten their grip on the entire competition.

José Mourinho last night flew back from São Paulo after talks with Kia Joorabchian, the Corinthians owner, over Carlos Tévez, the Argentina forward, while the Chelsea manager is increasingly confident of signing Salomon Kalou, the Feyenoord striker, this summer, and a £3 million deal has been agreed in principle.

 

Chelsea’s standard practice is to target two individuals for every position they need to fill before making their final decision at the last minute, although because of the complex nature in each case, they could end up signing both.

 

With Roman Abramovich, the Chelsea owner, still hopeful of recruiting Andriy Shevchenko as the main goalscorer, Tévez is the primary target as a second striker, but he could prove equally expensive.

 

The Times first revealed Chelsea’s interest in Tévez in March and although a deal is not yet complete, Mourinho’s decision to fly to Brazil before the end of the season shows the extent of his desire to sign him. After watching Corinthians crash out 6-3 on aggregate to River Plate in the Copa Libertadores, Mourinho had dinner with Joorabchian and Pini Zahavi, Chelsea’s principal buying agent.

 

It is understood that Mourinho spent much of the dinner expressing admiration for Tévez, offering the view that Argentine players were more suited to the Premiership than Brazilians, before talk turned to the asking price. After initially quoting £44 million, Joorabchian dropped the figure to £32 million, to which Mourinho replied that he would not be the one doing the negotiating but would relay the information to Abramovich.

 

It is believed that Mourinho also inquired about the availability of Javier Mascherano, Corinthians’ Argentina midfield player, while the Brazilian party asked about the possibility of a formal arrangement in which they could take some of Chelsea’s young players on loan. It is an indication of the close relationship between the clubs that Mourinho and Zahavi were accommodated at the team hotel.

 

Mourinho yesterday distanced himself from Tévez while being careful to avoid an outright denial — “People can say what they like, but there are 22 players in this match worth watching,” he said — while Joorabchian maintained his public stance that his star player is not for sale. The former Boca Juniors striker has a notional £70 million buyout clause in his contract and is understood to be unhappy at Corinthians.

 

“There’s no point naming a price as he’s not for sale,” Joorabchian told The Times last night. “He’s 22 years old, the best player in South America and one of the best players in the world. It’s not possible. For me he is irreplaceable.”

 

Kalou will be considerably cheaper, but in other respects Chelsea’s attempt to sign him is even more complex. As it stands, the 20-year-old would not be granted a work permit in this country as he has yet to represent Ivory Coast, the country of his birth, and is trying to gain Dutch citizenship in order to play for Holland in the World Cup finals.

 

Rita Verdonk, the Immigration Minister in the Netherlands, rejected his original fast-track application two months ago despite a personal plea from Marco van Basten, the Holland coach, and his appeal is due to be heard next week.

 

Kalou has only lived in the Netherlands for three years, two years short of the qualification period, and his case has not been helped by the fact that he failed the Dutch language and culture test. With just a year remaining on his contract, Chelsea plan to buy him this summer and loan him back to Feyenoord until he is granted a passport.

[Lazarus 0]

am sure i read somewhere that romanovitch owns the company that owns corinthians - so in order to 'buy' tevez, wouldnt he just move 32m from one of his bank acccounts to another of his bank accounts ?

 

not really 'buying' the player in my book.

 

 

 

 

 

i'll let someone else do the hard work and confirm this

[hggcraig 0]

Should be well suited to this league, could be a brilliant signing for them

[Guest CrimsonFault]

Should be well suited to this league, could be a brilliant signing for them

132373[/snapback]

 

Sitting on the fence?

[GafferTape 0]

am sure i read somewhere that romanovitch owns the company that owns corinthians - so in order to 'buy' tevez, wouldnt he just move 32m from one of his bank acccounts to another of his bank accounts ?

 

not really 'buying' the player in my book.

 

i'll let someone else do the hard work and confirm this 

132372[/snapback]

 

That was my understanding also. I'm pretty sure Corinthians signed Tevez after the Abramovich network took them over, as it was a rather high fee by South American transfer standards, as well as the unusual move to Brazil from Argentina, when people thought Tevez would have already been in Europe by now, like for example Robinho.

[Tooj 17]

If Kalou goes then bye bye Wrighty

[Kid Dynamite 7182]

id love to see tevez in the premiership, hes class! incidentally the game mourinho went to watch him in was abandoned due to crowd violence. bet mourniho shit himself!

[Tooj 17]

Tevez is pure class but with that formation Jose plays i can see him getting shifted out on the wing

[Scottish Mag 3]

Mourinho plays down link to Tevez 

 

 

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has played down speculation that the club will sign Corinthians striker Carlos Tevez.  Mourinho was in Brazil on Thursday watching as the Argentine played against River Plate in a match abandoned following crowd trouble.

 

Newspaper reports on Saturday claimed Chelsea are ready to bid anything from £20m to £60m for the 22-year-old.

 

"People can say what they like but there were 22 players in the match who were worth watching," said Mourinho.

 

"Now the Premiership's over I can go and enjoy other football without worrying."

 

Mourinho's presence provoked widespread media coverage in Brazil and Corinthians moved quickly to calm fears that their star player is about to leave.

 

"There's no point naming a price as he's not for sale," Kia Joorabchian, the president of London-based Media Sports Investments who have invested millions of dollars in Corinthians, told the Times.

 

"He's 22 years old, the best player in South America and one of the best players in the world. It's not possible. For me he is irreplaceable."

 

[Tooj 17]

Maybe looking at Mascherano as a long term replacement for Makelele......

[tinofbeans 91]

best holding midfielder in brazilian football btw. good technique. good buy. after all makalele has been chelseas best midfielder for the last 2 years. and yes i know lampard plays well but he's only a glory hunting midfield goal getter. and he goes missing against great teams.... he vanished against barca...

[Tooj 17]

best holding midfielder in brazilian football btw. good technique. good buy. after all makalele has been chelseas best midfielder for the last 2 years. and yes i know lampard plays well but he's only a glory hunting midfield goal getter. and he goes missing against great teams.... he vanished against barca...

132405[/snapback]

Man Yoo should buy him

[Kid Dynamite 7182]

man wheres he gona get the money for that!

[menace13 0]

Good deal for Kalou.