QPR chairman Tony Fernandes has revealed the club's interest in Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez, but says any chances of pulling off the deal remain 'highly unlikely'.
The news comes just hours after Tevez's proposed move to AC Milan broke down, leaving just tentative interest from Inter Milan as the only current escape route from the Etihad Stadium.
However, newly appointed Rangers manager Mark Hughes has told club officials he wants the Argentine front-man to headline his transfer business this January, and Fernandes is ready to inject big money to help the Londoners stave off the threat of relegation.
Yet speaking last night, the Malaysian businessman revealed any deal for Tevez would be hard to pull off, given the players desire to quit the Premier League for good.
'You never know - but it's highly unlikely. He's one of the most highly-paid players in the league and I think his mind is to go to another country,' said Fernandes.
Tevez may be unattainable at the moment, but QPR are closing in on his City team-mate Nedum Onuoha and other targets such as Blackburn captain Christopher Samba, with Fernandes chasing quick deals.
'I would like to do business as soon as possible, but we've got to make sure we get the right people at the right price,' he added.
Corinthians director Duilio Alves: We want to sign Manchester City's Carlos Tevez on loan
The Brazilian club have not given up on landing the striker but they have assured they will only do so on a temporary basis
The Argentina international's future remains subject to conjecture after Milan pulled out of negotiations on Thursday as a result of Alexandre Pato vowing to stay at San Siro.
Corinthians had a €40 million offer for Tevez turned down by City in the summer, but Alves says his side remain in the race to sign the 27-year-old - as long as they can do it on loan.
"The fans will have to remain patient, and City have to define what is going to happen," he told TV Bandeirantes.
"Corinthians are not interested in a permanent deal."
The Brazilian club face, however, a difficult task to convince City to part company with Tevez, as the Premier League giants have indicated they will only listen to permanent transfer offers for the striker.
City's Kolarov lined up for return to Serie A
Juventus have targeted Manchester City’s Serbian star Aleksandar Kolarov.
The left-back, who netted in the FA Cup against Manchester United last Sunday, moved to City 18 months ago
Although he remains a part of boss Roberto Mancini’s plans, the former Lazio star is understood to be interested in going back to Italy.
Loan star: Vladimir Weiss relishing Espanyol role
Vladimir Weiss noticed a flat tyre and pulled his car over in Barcelona. Manchester City’s Slovakian right winger, who is doing well on loan at Espanyol for the season, was quickly approached by a man on a motorcycle offering help.
“He spoke to me for no more than 15 seconds,” said the 22-year-old.
“In that time. an accomplice approached on another motorbike opened the other car door and stole my phone, wallet and jacket. So if any of my team-mates at City are wondering why I’ve not been in touch, it’s because I’ve lost all your numbers.”
Aside from that chastening experience, Weiss is loving life in Barcelona.
“It’s a great city with wonderful weather and I live near the sea with my two dogs who follow me everywhere,” he revealed in a marked Manchester accent, developed when he moved into digs in Didsbury at 15.
City spotted him playing for Slovakia’s under-17s in Northern Ireland’s Milk Cup and nipped ahead of Arsenal to sign the promising winger – and Weiss might well return to Manchester.
“I’ve still got a contract at City until the end of next year so I’ll probably go back in the summer and do pre-season,” he said.
“But I don’t really know what’s happening. I have to see how the season goes here and what offers I have at the end of the season.”
Weiss was a star in City’s youth team which won the 2008 FA Youth Cup. He made his first team debut a year later against Bolton, the club which he was loaned to in 2010.
“I didn’t play as much as I hoped at Bolton,” he admitted. “I sat on the bench with Jack Wilshere a lot, but the disappointment made me mentally stronger.”
He then played for Slovakia in the 2010 World Cup before going on loan to Glasgow Rangers last season.
“Rangers was fantastic,” he said. “We won the league and the cup and even though the league is not the best, it was tough for a 21-year-old and I really enjoyed it. Rangers are a big well-supported club and I played in the Champions League too, which is where I want to play again.”
Weiss’ ambition lay not in Scotland, but the Premier League or Spain’s La Liga.
“I spoke to Roberto Mancini about my situation. It’s not easy to play every week at City because of the number of top quality players,” he added.
“When I heard that Espanyol were interested I was keen to move and it has gone well. The football is very different to England but the game here suits me.
“It’s fast and not as direct as England. It’s less physical too. I was used to playing the English way and got five yellows in my first five games.
“I’m not a dirty player at all, it just took some time to adjust.”
There are almost 40 Spaniards working as professional footballers in England.
There’s not a single Englishman doing the same in Spain, yet several Manchester City players have moved to Spain on loan.
Felipe Caicedo thrived so much at Levante that he earned a £7m move to Lokomotiv Moscow last July, while Roque Santa Cruz is doing well at Real Betis – though he’ll have to do well to score at Camp Nou against Barcelona on Sunday as they haven’t conceded a home league goal all season.
Weiss played against the Spanish, European and World champions last week.
“We got a draw so it was a good result,” he said.
"I played against Barca with City and we beat them in a friendly match so I’ve played twice against them and not lost.”
Espanyol are prospering, lying eighth in the league and in the cup quarter-finals.
A return to Manchester is out of his hands and he has no idea if he could be part of Mancini’s future plans.
“I don’t miss the weather but I miss certain things about Manchester,” he said. “The clothes, my house. It’s a good city.”
THAT’S A BIT RICH THEN, EMMANUEL ADEBAYOR
IT WAS an incident in training that gave Harry Redknapp a measure of the size of the gap he is trying to bridge in hunting down Manchester City.
With Premier League leaders City not playing Wigan until Monday, a win for Tottenham at home to Wolves today would move them level on points.
But off the field, the chasm that separates the two clubs could not be wider.
Such is the gulf in resources, the key player to Tottenham’s emergence as surprise title contenders is a City cast-off.
Emmanuel Adebayor is on loan at White Hart Lane for the season and, as such, will not be able to play when the two sides meet at the Etihad Stadium on January 22.
He has settled in well with his temporary club though, with his smiling face normally in the centre of what goes on around the training complex, even if it is his own personal circumstances that highlight the enormity of the task in front of Spurs. And he makes no bones about it.
“He is on amazing money,” said Redknapp. “The other week, one of the lads reminded him that he had not paid his £50 fine for being the worst player in training on a Friday morning.
One of the other lads chipped in, ‘Bloody hell Addy, you are on £200,000 a week and you can’t afford to pay a £50 fine!’
“Manu stopped and looked at the player. ‘Don’t insult me,’ he said straight-faced. ‘It’s £225,000 a week’. He certainly ain’t getting that here.”
That does not seem to have affected his form, as Adebayor has proved central to pulling together the whole shape of the team. Which is ironic, as in the past he has been more likely to be accused of pulling a team apart.
“He has done well for us,” said Redknapp. “He has not been a minute’s problem – although things are going well for us and we are winning. He has worked hard. We like him and he has enjoyed it here.
“We will have Adebayor until the end of the year and see how we go.” The arrival of Togo international Adebayor has ruffled a few feathers though. He enjoys automatic selection status and, with Rafael van der Vaart getting the nod more often than not, Jermain Defoe has found himself short of first-team action.
That said, Redknapp hinted he would feature against Wolves this afternoon after he sat out the 2-0 win against Everton on Wednesday.
But stories have appeared that he is unsettled and, now that the transfer window is open, Newcastle Sunderland and QPR are leading the interest.
Redknapp has a theory on that – Defoe has recently changed his representatives and is now part of Struan Marshall’s stable.
“A new agent comes in and the boy is not playing – I can understand it,” he said.
“The agent is saying this club wants him and that club wants him – that is how they make their money. They want a move.
“That is how agents work. This is the time of the year where they make their money by trying to shift players. They want to do a deal. They have got to sell somebody. He is not moving anywhere though.
“He is on contract here and is a big player for us and is going to be an important player.
“He was unlucky the other night. We had two games this week but he did not play against Everton because I went with Rafa. But Defoe is an important player.
“He is a good lad. I have taken him everywhere and get on great with him. He gets disappointed, but there is every chance he will play against Wolves. And I would not even consider letting him out on loan.”
Spurs are taking a similar hands-off stance with South African midfielder Steven Pienaar, who only joined the club last January.
QPR, under new manager Mark Hughes, lodged a formal bid yesterday for a player who has been restricted to just five league starts for Tottenham due to a series of injuries.
“I would not want to sell him,” said Redknapp. “He is a good player. I don’t have any need to weaken the squad.
“I would rather have a good squad for the last 18 matches of the season than let one or two go who could play a part in the run-in.”‘You insult me, it’s £225,000 each week’
MAN CITY BUYING THE TITLE? RUBBISH, SAYS DAVID PLATT
DAVID PLATT has hit back at Harry Redknapp’s claim that Manchester City have tried to buy their way to the Premier League title.
Platt, Roberto Mancini’s No 2, says City’s £400 million transfer outlay since Abu Dhabi billionaire Sheikh Mansour bought the club in September 2008 was simply to fast-track them to the same level as the other top clubs who have spent an equivalent amount over a longer period. Platt said: “If you have the resources to go and eat at the top table and you can do it in a two-year spend rather than over 10 years, it gets you there quicker.”
MIND GAMES BOLLOX
Manchester City's first half of season was fantastic, says Ferguson
'City have more points than Arsenal or Chelsea usually have'
Sir Alex Ferguson has paid tribute to Manchester City's phenomenal start to the league campaign, describing their results in the first half of the season as one of the best performances in a long, long time.
Manchester United could go level on points with their neighbours by winning Saturday's home game against Bolton Wanderers, as could Tottenham Hotspur by beating Wolves at White Hart Lane, and Ferguson said it is good for football to see two new teams challenging for the title ahead of the usual threat from Chelsea and Arsenal. "I think that makes it more exciting, and more interesting for the fans, but it certainly doesn't make it any easier," he said.
"The main difference I can see this season is that City have amassed a bigger points total than Chelsea or Arsenal would normally have managed by this stage. Their first half of the season was fantastic, and the way it's going we could be looking at something approaching 90 points to win this league. It could certainly be a number in the high 80s, and that is surprising really, because in recent seasons more teams have been taking points off each other."
Ferguson does not expect City to replicate their first-half performance and double their points total in the second half of the season – based on 45 points from 19 games that would take them to 90 at the end – because fatigue, pressure and other commitments often take their toll as the run-in gets under way. "Points will be dropped along the way, I always say that," he said. "I am sure we will be dropping a few too, because we have got a hard programme of games away from home. We have still got to go to Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and City, and those are all games that could see points shared or dropped. There's a long way to go yet."
Acutely aware of what happened the last time a team from the bottom three visited Old Trafford – Blackburn Rovers temporarily lifting themselves off the foot of the table with an unlikely 3-2 win – Ferguson wishes to name as strong a side as possible against Bolton.
"Chris Smalling and Phil Jones have slight knocks that we'll have to assess before the game but we should have a reasonable squad," he said. "You have to respect any team that's down at the bottom because they will be fighting for their lives. We are expecting a tough game but we will make sure we address it properly. I'd prefer not to talk about going joint top or what might happen after that; we have an opportunity to try and win a game at home and we will see where that takes us."
Ferguson would not confirm whether Paul Scholes will be involved, but suggested that he may be. "I wouldn't be against playing him," he said. "As his stats from the last game showed, he's still one of the best passers in the game, and he'll probably still be able to do that when he's 50. Bringing him back was a very easy decision to make; all the players idolise him anyway so there was never going to be a problem fitting in."
Scholes has signed a contract until the end of the season, at which point his situation will be reviewed again. One player who may not last that long at United is Ravel Morrison, an 18-year-old winger with a couple of substitute appearances who is interesting Newcastle and seems to have exhausted the patience of his present manager.
"His agent has been working hard to get him another club," Ferguson said. "We have offered him terms, which he has refused. His demands are unrealistic as far as we are concerned. We have rejected an offer from Newcastle."
Ferguson also said he would have no concerns about selecting Patrice Evra for the FA Cup tie at Liverpool this month. Evra would be playing at Anfield for the first time since he made allegations of racism against Liverpool's Luis Suárez. "I haven't decided on that [whether Evra will play] but it wouldn't be a problem for me," the manager said
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]OTHER BOLLOX
Out of control! Furious Wenger rages at rivals' 'influence' on television games
Arsene Wenger has sensationally accused rival Barclays Premier League clubs of influencing television stations to doctor the fixture list.
The Arsenal manager insisted it was wrong that some sides can lean on broadcasters to arrange televised matches to suit themselves.
Wenger believes the current system, whereby television channels take their pick from a match list organised by the Premier League, provides an unfair advantage to some clubs, who can enjoy more recovery time between games.
The Frenchman said: 'I believe the Premier League have to make sure there's a bit more fairness in the schedules. I don't believe the Premier League have played, in the last months or the last year, a very fair role in the distribution of the fixtures. They are sold to television and television is influenced by some clubs to choose the fixtures. And some clubs get advantaged by television, if it's Sky or ESPN, because they have an influence from the clubs directly.
'If the Premier League don't decide, it is the television that decides. That means television can be influenced and the Premier League have nothing to say. That's what I think is not right.
'If, tomorrow, you buy a club and your best friend is the owner of Sky TV you don't think you will tell him, "Look, you put us on Friday night. That's not fair."?
'Or, "You put us on Sunday night, that's not fair."? Temptation? Of course it is.
'I do not want to go personally on any one club, but if things are repeated then it's not a coincidence any more.
'I'm not the only manager who thinks that. There's a real problem there.'
Wenger, who did not name specific clubs who seek to secure an advantage, also accused the Premier League of lacking control over their fixtures, arguing television channels dictate who plays when.
UK broadcasters alone paid £1.782billion to show 138 live top-flight matches between 2010 and 2013.
Wenger added: 'The contracts are done in a way that's not right for the fairness of the competition. You cannot have decisive games with one team playing Friday and Tuesday and another on Sunday on Tuesday.
'The Premier League (should) decide what is fair and what is not fair. At the moment, they don't. Television decides.
'We have sold our soul and we do not control our games, our fixtures, any more. But it is the truth. I cannot say that the television is wrong, but it's not normal that they can have a direct influence on the schedule. The Premier League should be in complete control of the Premier League.'
Last April Wenger said he believed his side were the victims of a conspiracy that gave Manchester United an advantage in the title race. He was upset that many of his club's games had been scheduled for Sundays, meaning United always had the opportunity to play first.
Yesterday Wenger pointed out that his team were forced to play a rearranged League game against Stoke City just four days before losing the Carling Cup final last February.
Arsenal won 1-0 but lost Theo Walcott and Cesc Fabregas to injury, while their opponents at Wembley, Birmingham City, saw their corresponding League match against Everton delayed owing to bad weather.
He said: 'You can look 50 times (and) we are 50 times always in that situation.
'Of course it happens to many clubs. It happens less to some than others. The responsibility of the Premier League is to make sure that Premier League fixtures are better distributed than they are.'
Wenger and his captain, Robin van Persie, were also upset Arsenal had to play a televised League match at Fulham on January 2, which they lost 2-1, just two days after beating QPR.
Van Persie said: 'To be honest, I still don't really see why we had to play twice in three days. 'We could have played on the 31st and then the third, or even the fourth, like other teams did. That would still have given us enough time before the Leeds game. It looks like the fixtures were all in a rush for no apparent reason.'
Tottenham are battling to keep Jermain Defoe after the striker complained about a lack of playing opportunities. Times
Harry Redknapp has offered David Beckham the opportunity to return to the Premier League with Tottenham on a two-month loan. Metro
Queens Park Rangers are to submit an improved bid of £3.5m for the transfer-listed Chelsea defender Alex. the Guardian
QPR are also lining up a loan move for former Portsmouth and Sunderland midfielder Sulley Muntari. The Ghana midfielder's contract with Inter Milan expires at the end of the season. Daily Star
And Brazil Under-20 star Henrique is set to join QPR on an 18-month loan deal. Lancenet
Chelsea and Manchester United have been given a major boost in their pursuit of Lille's Belgian star Eden Hazard after he let it be known he would be interested in a move to the Premier League. Daily Mail
Aston Villa are considering a loan move for Slovenia midfielder Armin Bacinovic, who plays for Italian club Palermo. Daily Mail
Sunderland are eyeing Fulham striker Bobby Zamora as the Cottagers negotiate with Catania over Argentina forward Maxi Lopez. Daily Mirror
Norwich City boss Paul Lambert has admitted his frustration at being unable to bolster his squad in the January transfer window. Eastern Daily Press
Fulham have entered the race for Watford striker Marvin Sordell, and now look to be the favourites to land the England Under-21 star. talkSHIT
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp has admitted that, although he's loving life at White Hart Lane, he would have to consider any offer he received to become England manager. talkSHIT
New Everton signing Darron Gibson has revealed he was convinced to move to Goodison Park by former Manchester United team-mate Wayne Rooney. Liverpool Echo
New QPR manager Mark Hughes is furious with Fulham manager Martin Jol after he accused him of lacking staying power. Daily Mail
Bolton midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker says players no longer know how they are allowed to tackle. Daily Mail
Brazilian World Cup winner Rivaldo is set to join Angolan first division club Kabuscorp. Angola Press
more bollox later ....
