We're never really going to know who owned the player rights to Carlos Tevez when he arrived at West Ham United in 2006. The East London club insisted he was a fully registered player, while stories persisted that Media Sports Investments and their sleazebucket owner, Kia Joorabchian, still owned his economic rights, which would have been a violation of Premier League rules.That's not the case anymore. The Guardian is reporting that Manchester United paid £32 million to make Tevez's loan from West Ham permanent, officially sweeping one of the most sordid stories in Premier League history under the rug.
That transfer fee is a record for an English club, eclipsing the £30M that Chelsea wasted on Andriy Shevchenko. Perhaps that cash was better spent on Tevez, who's only 24 and who scored 19 goals in 39 games last season. Some have suggested there are better potential strike partners for Wayne Rooney -- and Sir Alex Ferguson reportedly has a list -- but Rooney and Tevez played well together last season and could remain the Red Devils' first options up front for years to come.
Perhaps the only question now is whether the record fee for Tevez might hasten the sale of everyone's favorite brown-and-serve winger, Cristiano Ronaldo. Real Madrid, however, has reportedly given up on CR7 and is only thinking about Cesc. (UPDATE: Cesc isn't thinking about Madrid.)




