Tévez leaving United

Very big news today; that Carlos Tévez has rejected a contract offer from Manchester United and will be leaving Old Trafford now that his contract is expiring. Even better, for City fans, is that Kia Joorabchian has confirmed that City are one of two options being considered by Tévez:

"City and Chelsea probably would be the two clubs that are on the table."

He added: "City have obviously been in contact with us. I've spoken to (City executive chairman) Garry (Cook) and to (manager) Mark (Hughes) on several occasions."

And the choice isn't as clear cut in favour of Chelsea as it might be:

"Without getting into the point of whether he's going to City or Chelsea or wherever, the issue is that I think Carlos wants to go to a club which has real ambition.City have shown a lot of ambition with the players they've brought in in the last year or so, and Chelsea are also showing a lot of ambition – they want to win the Champions League. Both have that ambition."

Let's not forget why exactly Tévez left United: because he wasn't first choice, particularly for the big matches. While Chelsea are a more attractive prospect than City in many ways - could he be sure that he would not find himself in the same situtation at Stamford Bridge as he did at Old Trafford? Carlo Ancelotti would not want his hands tied while he was still acquanting himself with the squad; and one could even argue that Tévez would not be first choice in a squad including Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba.

And if we give Ian Herbert and Sam Wallace's article today as much as we ought to, we'll be even more confident. They write that:

Sources at the club [MCFC] believe that the Argentine is as good as theirs, despite United's option on the player and the interest from Liverpool and Chelsea. While there is no announcement expected in the next few days – Tevez's adviser Kia Joorabchian was at Royal Ascot yesterday – City believe they will start the new season with Tevez.

I don't want to tempt fate blah blah blah, but this is looking better and better. We must be favourites now, and good favourites too.