United hope Tevez will make opener

Carlos Tevez’s move to Manchester United will not be signed off by the Premier League today but the club are hopeful the deal will be confirmed by the kick-off of the new season this weekend.

The Argentina striker is to sign a two-year loan-type agreement but the contract has to be deemed acceptable by the Premier League.

It is understood the league’s lawyers will not be able to sign it off today and there are some concerns that the delay could stretch on beyond the weekend because a similar deal involving Javier Mascherano to Liverpool took a number of weeks to be cleared.

The Tevez deal though is so similar to Mascherano’s that United are confident it can go through before the weekend.