ALEX FERGUSON can never have imagined he would hear boos on the day Manchester United pulled level with Liverpool on 18 titles. These, however, are peculiar times at Old Trafford.
Mounted police dispersed some of the supporters who had gathered on the concourse to offer more voluble support for the man who had left the pitch draped in an Argentina flag and waving what looked for all the world like goodbye.
Earlier, Ferguson’s decision to replace Carlos Tevez with Park Ji-sung had turned the mood of impending celebration into one of open dissent. It is difficult, in fact, to remember any other Ferguson substitution in his 22½ years at the club ever getting such a response. As the manager took the microphone after the final whistle, there was the embarrassing phenomenon of him being drowned out by the now-familiar chant of “Fergie, Fergie, sign him up.”
The request is directed at the wrong man given Ferguson has informed Tevez he would like to keep him and has also stated it publicly, as well as to the club’s chief executive David Gill and various members of the Glazer family.
The key now is whether Gill, as United’s transfer negotiator, can reach a compromise with Kia Joorabchian, the man at the head of the mysterious consortium that owns Tevez’s economic rights.
The official stance from Old Trafford is that they want the deal to happen – but on their terms. Joorabchian is not so keen, largely because it would mean lowering the €36 million fee that was agreed in 2007, when Tevez signed a two-year loan arrangement and United paid €11.3 million with the rest to come if, as proposed, the club should want to turn it into a permanent deal.
What is clear is United’s valuation of the 25-year-old player has drastically changed, possibly by as much as a third. “Carlos has done well for us,” said Ferguson. “But the demands originally put to us were unrealistic. Like other clubs, we have to be aware of the consequences of the credit crunch. As far as Tevez is concerned, everybody would be best served by a willingness to compromise.”
Except Joorabchian made it clear to Gill during a meeting in London last Wednesday he is not willing to budge. Tevez, moreover, has been described as “humiliated” that United no longer value him as highly as before.
“It is an unusual situation,” said Gill. “We had to pay a lease fee, or rental or loan fee, call it what you will, for two years, and now we have a fixed fee which we have to pay if we wish to take up our option to acquire Carlos. At which point we would own Carlos 100 per cent. So it is unusual, but whatever happens to Carlos in the summer, that situation will be clarified. If we don’t manage to keep him and he goes to another club in the Premier League, that club will own him outright.”
Further talks are planned in early-June when Gill will also inform Joorabchian United would like to stagger any payments rather than paying a lump sum. The deal will have to be “structured correctly,” he said. “ . . . yes, we would like him to stay, but the actual economic situation needs to be clarified.”
In an interview on an Argentinian radio station last Friday, Tevez seemed to have lost his patience with the United hierarchy, saying they had “lacked respect” for him and that he had been “badly treated”. “If he has said that, it is borne out of frustration but he has to understand these are big decisions,” said Gill. “They are large amounts of money, and the timeline is perhaps not as quick as people want it to be. I just think it is frustration.”
Meanwhile, Ferguson has also confronted the possibility of Cristiano Ronaldo getting his “dream” move to Real Madrid by insisting the world footballer of the year can win more trophies by staying at Manchester United. Madrid have already put in place a provisional deal with the player’s advisers but Ferguson said Ronaldo should also consider the Spanish club seem to be on the wane. “After Barcelona battered Real Madrid 6-2 our players were telling Cristiano, if he goes to the Bernabeu, he’ll have to play centre half,” said the United manager.
Ronaldo was given the opportunity to commit himself to United publicly after Saturday’s game but was ambiguous about his future. “It’s brilliant, the atmosphere here is unbelievable . . . But the future, you never know.” Ferguson, nonetheless, says there are no signs the Portuguese international is unhappy in Manchester. “The indications I’m getting from the dressingroom are that the other players don’t feel he’s behaving as if he’s discontented. His contract with us runs until 2012 and we are in the driving seat.”
Madrid were humiliated by Barcelona in La Liga and suffered a 5-0 aggregate defeat by Liverpool in the Champions League quarter-finals, fulfilling Ferguson’s prediction they were “too slow” to win the European Cup. The message from Ferguson is Ronaldo can be more successful at Old Trafford and Gill struck a similar theme. “In the dressingroom after the [Arsenal] game we had the trophy and any footballer would recognise that, in the short to medium term, he would have more chance of winning things at Manchester United than at Real Madrid,” said Gill.
Guardian Service
