Chris Heaton-Harris, president of the EU’s powerful Sports Intergroup which deals with sporting matters across the continent, has given hope to United fans over the prospect of us signing Carlos Tevez on a permanent basis.

“It is unique and bizarre that an entity, rather than a club, owns a player,” he said. “In employment terms, Carlos Tevez has a contract himself with this company. But if he went to the European Commission and said he wanted out of it, he would get European support. It is just an employment contract. You can’t keep a person to a contract that he doesn’t want to continue in. Under European law, he has the right to break this contract.”

We might hate Kia Joorabchian but I’m fairly sure Tevez must be fond of him. The man has got him playing for Manchester United after all. So would Tevez fuck him off like that? It’s unlikely.

So, whilst getting him for free might be pushing it a bit, this new finding about contracts under European law certainly gives us something to work with. We don’t have to piss Joorabchian off but I’m sure he’s getting hot under the collar now than this news is all over the press. Have a word with Tevez, get him to have a word with Joorabchian, and let’s see if we can get the overall transfer fee to something closer to £20 million instead of the reported £30 million we’re being asked for.

We shouldn’t get him for free, that’s not on. Tevez does have a contract and it is up to Joorabchian to sort out a club that would be best for him. At present, it appears as though he is more interested than selling him to someone like City for a load of money than he is securing Tevez a club that is best suited to his future. If he’s going to put his own well being ahead of Tevez’s best interests, then I don’t see the problem with us playing hard ball and seeing what impact this talk of signing him for free might have.

There have been plenty of complaints over the time it has taken to resolve this mess but if David Gill is planning to play Joorabchian, and has been planning this from the beginning, then it certainly makes a lot more sense. Carlos wants to stay, the fans want him to stay, the manager wants him to stay, so let’s sort out an agreement. The cheaper the better!