Kia Joorabchian is growing impatient with the Old
Trafford board as he was given an assurance in the summer a
£30million deal to make the Argentine’s loan move permanent would
be imminent.
Manager Alex Ferguson has since said the deal would not
be done until the summer. But Joorabchian, who owns the striker’s
rights, is not prepared to wait that long before sounding out other
options with interest from both Real Madrid and Inter Milan — and
no doubt across the road at Manchester City.
He fears Tevez’s price is being driven down by his lack
of first-team starts. There are also question marks over whether
the money is there for the deal right now with the club £600m in
debt in the middle of a credit crunch.
Tevez, 24, has started only one of the last seven games
since the arrival of £30.75m Dimitar Berbatov. He was also upset at
Louis Saha’s No 9 shirt being saved for the Bulgarian.
Tevez would have been angry by his omission from the
starting line-up against an understrength Celtic side in the
Champions League on Tuesday. Ferguson made it clear Cristiano
Ronaldo was tired — but, in the end, he started.