by Beeks » Wed Dec 15, 2010 10:39 am
Telegraph
Kia Joorabchian: Manchester City reneged on promises made to Carlos Tévez
Carlos Tévez wants to quit Manchester City because he says the club reneged on specific promises made to him which had nothing to do with money.
His adviser, Kia Joorabchian, said on Tuesday night that City had made Tévez a “fantastic offer” that would have probably made him the highest-paid player in the Premier League and that the submission of a written transfer request had nothing to do with financial demands.
There are understood to be several promises that were made to Tévez that the club failed to follow up on with Joorabchian adamant that the desire to leave has been driven by the player and not him.
In an exclusive interview with Telegraph Sport, Joorabchian also dismissed as “ludicrous” claims emanating from the club that he had tried to involve himself in the transfer of Yaya Touré.
“I’m not an agent so I don’t act as an agent,” he said. “You can see evidence that Manchester City invited me to help them so to suggest anything else is wrong.”
Joorabchian refuted suggestions that Tévez might refuse to play for City. “I want to be clear that Carlos has never said he is not going to play or train or be professional. So those rumours are rubbish,” he said.
“He will play if picked and 100 per cent do his best. He feels that is important every time he puts on the shirt. He always gives 100 per cent. ”
Nevertheless Tévez had wanted to leave City at the end of last season. “When Carlos Tévez first signed for Manchester City there was a reason why he signed. He saw the vision of the owner and the way the club wanted to go,” he said.
“Carlos is a winner, everywhere he has been in his life he has been a winner. He decided he would sign for the club, play one year outside of the Champions League and hopefully take this club into the next phase.
“When he joined City he made a commitment that this was what he wanted to do. At the end of last season, after all the turmoil that went on, Carlos was bitterly disappointed because they didn’t qualify for the Champions League.
"And he felt the situation at the club was not going in the same direction as he imagined it would be going. He played out of his skin, did everything he possibly could.
“In the summer he wanted to leave. I then spent most of my summer travelling all around the world talking to the chairman of Manchester City [Khaldoon Al Mubarak] and to Carlos in order to try and convince him that we should try to find an agreement that would allow us and help us to go to the next phase.
"He would then not feel like he wanted to leave. I think I managed to successfully convince Carlos to speak to the chairman and let the two of them find a harmonious way to get this back on track.
“I’m surprised at the club’s reaction because they were fully aware of the situation and how I was helping. The two of them spoke and they spoke with the rest of the management.
"The chairman asked Carlos to stay and the management agreed that he had certain issues that he wanted dealt with. They wanted to wait until Sept 1 to address the issues he had because they wanted to concentrate on the transfer window.”
However, Joorabchian said, it was the failure to address these ‘issues’ that changed everything. “Through September Carlos again began to get disillusioned because his viewpoint was it was not happening. His view was that they had agreed and spoke and promises were made to him and now the window was closed these issues were not being resolved.
"Carlos wanted to leave, I went to speak to them and they said there would be a new contract, new clauses in the contract etc. They sent the proposal, we countered one time and then we said ‘you know what Carlos doesn’t want it, thank you very much, no’.”
Tévez is furious that he is now being accused of angling for a new contract or is being controlled by Joorabchian.
“I’m absolutely confident that the emails will show we acted in a correct manner at all times,” Joorabchian said. “I feel absolutely confident that if everyone is happy to make that public we have not done anything unprofessional or behaved in anything other than a correct manner.
“If we have to show a dossier that is chronological and shows the whole picture from start to finish, so that people can see what has gone on, then I’m confident that I have nothing to hide and nothing to worry about.”
He added: “Carlos has been very clear that this was his decision and he has not been influenced by anyone else.
“The people who work for the club should be ‘thinking there is a problem here, how do we find a solution to this problem’ rather than fuelling the fire.”
Joorabchian’s relationship with City chief executive Garry Cook has also come under scrutiny. “For anyone to think that either me or Garry Cook are bigger than the story of the club is ridiculous. I don’t think I am important enough or he is important enough,” he said of the former Nike executive who Joorabchian says he helped get his job at City.
“I introduced them and in fact I acted as his agent and increased his salary more than four times what he was being earned in the States. He even offered me a commission, which I turned down,” he said.
“Garry was not involved in the Carlos Tévez transfer at all and I think maybe through that and other issues the whole concept of the job took him by surprise. He just thought ‘oh my God, this is brilliant I’m in charge of this club’.
"I definitely don’t see this as about me and Garry Cook. Carlos is his own man and has his own strong opinions and to suggest that this is about me and Garry Cook is a joke. Carlos’ issues with the club have nothing to do with my relationship with Garry. My relationship with him has been like it is for two years, it didn’t start on yesterday.”
Joorabchian said that he hoped the two sides would, however, be able to talk over the coming weeks.
“Right now Carlos has made his point very clearly that he has issues,” he said. “At a certain time the club and Carlos will have to sit down and try and find an amicable solution here It’s much more constructive for people like Garry and myself to work to find solutions rather than any ideas that we are trying to influence.
"Everybody is being hurt by this right now.”
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