LONDON, England, June 26 – Carlos Tevez’s turbulent stay in England is drawing to a close after Manchester City agreed a £10million deal with Juventus for the Argentina striker.
At the same time, Belgian international goalkeeper Simon Mignolet became English Premier League side Liverpool’s fourth signing of the close season when he moved from Sunderland for 9million pounds (US$13.9million).
Tevez, 29, is set to sign a three-year contract in Turin once he undergoes a medical on Wednesday although sources close to the player insist that personal terms have yet to be agreed.
The two clubs struck a deal yesterday after Juve general manager Beppe Marotta and sporting director Fabio Paratici flew to England to conclude negotiations yesterday.
Mignolet, 25, who signed a long-term contract, joins Manchester City’s veteran defender Kolo Toure, Sevilla’s Luis Alberto and Celta Vigo’s Iago Aspas as manager Brendan Rodgers’ new recruits since a disappointing season saw them fail to qualify for Europe in finishing seventh and without a trophy.
“I am delighted that we have been able to sign one of the top goalkeepers in the Premier League,” Rodgers told the club website.
“Simon will join a club that will give him an opportunity to demonstrate and improve his huge talent.”
Mignolet, who played over 100 games for Sunderland since a £2million move from Belgian side Saint-Truiden in June 2010, could well replace the club’s long-time number one Spaniard Pepe Reina, who has been linked with a move to Spanish champions Barcelona.
Rodgers spending is far from over as he has also declared an interest in highly-rated Sporting Lisbon defender Tiago Ilori, 20, and 24-year-old Armenian midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan from Ukrainian giants Shakhtar Donetsk.
However, he will face a battle with other clubs to secure the signature of Mkhitaryan, who is valued at 20million pounds.
For Tevez, The basic fee of £7.6m will rise to £10m if, as expected, the Italians qualify for the Champions League in each of the next three seasons. City could also receive up to £2.5m if Juventus win a trophy in that time.
Considering that they will save an additional £17m in wages and bonuses over the course of the final year of Tevez’s £196,000-a-week contract, City chiefs were last night understood to be delighted at the sale of player who would have been a free agent next summer.
Juventus and AC Milan have both had a long-standing interest in Tevez, but Milan have fallen out of the running in recent weeks as they struggled to raise funds by selling former City star Robinho.
– AFP and Daily Mail
