Khaldoon: Stop congratulating one another and meet our terms

I've said it before, and I'll say it again; Khaldoon Al Mubarak oozes class and authority. He doesn't often speak to the press about anything, and the last time he spoke publicly was exclusively for mcfc.co.uk at the end of last season.

But now, with under a week to go in the January transfer window, Khaldoon has broke his silence and spoke in no uncertain terms about Carlos Tevez's dream move to AC Milan. But before I go into that, let's just quickly recap the transfer saga over the last couple of months.

Milan made their approaches quite public saying that they had spoken to the player and his advisers in December and that he was going to Italy on loan. Milan's vice-president Adriano Galliani spoke on Italian TV saying;

"We have an agreement with Tevez and we have recently sent an email to City with our offer (loan with option to buy for £19m at the end of the season).

"We hope City says yes, there were other European clubs interested, but we are in pole position.

"Tevez wants to come to us. Half of the agreement has been reached. Now we await City's response."

In addition to this, Tevez was quoted in Argentina as saying, "I see myself only in the red and black shirt, I am hoping for Milan." And his greasy adviser Kia Joorabchian was quoted as saying, "We are only in talks with Milan."

This has gone on for several weeks now with Milan saying he's going there and City saying he isn't unless they buy him. And now, sorry to burst your little bubble, Carlos, it doesn't look like that's going to be happening despite your handler's best efforts and having already agreed personal terms with the Club before they ever approached City with an offer.

Khaldoon Al Mubarak told The National;

"As things stand AC Milan isn't an option for Carlos Tevez,

"Mr Galliani and his advisers have developed a misplaced sense of confidence from their premature discussions with Carlos and his advisers. If they want to be a consideration in this transfer window they would do better to stop congratulating one another and begin to look at how they would meet our terms."

City made there position perfectly clear from the beginning of the transfer window that they were not willing to loan Tevez out, and that only a transfer offer that met their valuation (reportedly £25m) would even be considered. However AC Milan have only put forward loan offers with the option to buy at the end of the season.

I don't believe AC Milan have/had any intention of buying Tevez even if City had agreed to the loan deal. I fully believe they would have sent him back at the end of the season when they had Cassano fit again after his minor heart surgery in November.

Khaldoon also made a point of praising the other 2 clubs that have been in the running to sign Tevez. PSG were reported to have agreed a fee with City but were unable to reach an agreement on personal terms with the striker. No doubt this is because Tevez doesn't want to go anywhere else and Joorbachian believes the rubbish Gilliani has been spouting about buying him at the end of the season.

"Paris St German and Inter Milan approached discussions with us in good faith and it is always a positive experience to deal with people with such a professional approach,"

Tevez and Joorabchian seem to be doing their utmost to get away. Refusing to play/get off the bench.warm up, buggering off to Argentina without permission, and the public statements that he wants to go to Milan are all tactics to try and force City's hand into selling him on the cheap.

Did they really think this would work? They have misread and underestimated the resolve of Al Mubarak and Mansour.

"Carlos remains a player with contractual obligations to Manchester City for the next two and a half seasons. Unless we receive an offer that we deem appropriate, the terms of his contract will be enforced."

With Tevez clearly not wanting to play for City again and Mancini unwilling to let him play, City are quite willing for Tevez to miss out on what should be the best years of his career should AC not meet their valuation or if Tevez rejects negotiations with other clubs like he has done.

There were fears that Tevez was getting away with his ridiculous and childish behaviour, but we have recently found out that is not the case. Tevez has lost out on a total of £9.3m worth of earnings through loss of a loyalty bonus, club fines, and not being paid since his November walk-out. This is likely to continue as long as Tevez stays away.

As tired as I am with it, I'm actually slightly looking forward to seeing how this pans out now we know Khaldoon's stance on the matter. As I said after the Munich debacle, this is going to cost Tevez and his career. The question is, how much?

3 months without football, 3 months without being paid, loss of reputation, £9.3m and counting.




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