Striker Carlos Tevez will make his Manchester United debut at Portsmouth today in place of injury victim Wayne Rooney.
Tevez, 23, was paraded on Monday by manager Alex Ferguson after finally concluding his long-running transfer on Friday.
Ferguson had hoped to hold the Argentine forward in reserve until Sunday's Manchester derby when United travel to face near neighbors City.
But the manager admitted that with Rooney sidelined for up to two months after fracturing his left foot in the season opener against Reading, his new signing would be thrown straight into the action against Pompey.
"I think Carlos will go straight into the team on Wednesday. I would have preferred to have left it until Manchester City next Sunday to give him another few days rest and training," Ferguson said.
"But he has trained very hard on Saturday and Sunday so he will just do light training now to get him ready for Wednesday's game," he said.
Ferguson is relieved to have completed the deal that was delayed due to complications over the third-party ownership of the former West Ham United striker's registration.
United have agreed to a two-year loan deal with the player and the company that owns Tevez's economic rights with an option to make the signing permanent for a pre-arranged, undisclosed fee during or at the end of that period.
The controversy surrounding the player's registration has sparked a debate about the role of third-party ownership and calls for the arrangement to be banned.
Ferguson, though, insisted he was more concerned with finally signing the player whose goal against United at Old Trafford secured a victory and Premier League survival for West Ham on the final day of last season.
"There was competition for him, but I think Carlos wanted to come here and that settled it," the Scot said.
"We declared our interest as soon as we became aware of his situation and yes, it's been a long time but I think it's worthwhile waiting for him," he said.
"The most important thing is he has proved himself in the English game. There's no question in my mind that his contribution for West Ham saved them from relegation," he said.
"That single contribution impressed me greatly. I watched most of the run-in and to win seven games out of nine was championship form for West Ham and most of that was down to Carlos," he said.
"The platform was there for him to use and he used it fantastically well and he showed what a world class player he is," he said.
Tevez admitted his relief at the conclusion of his move and admitted the long-running saga had been frustrating.
"It would have been impossible not to know what was going on over the summer but I only started to realize how difficult it was towards the end of the Copa America, as each game passed and the situation wasn't resolved," he said.
"I never thought I would stop playing football," he said. "It's different sides of the coin. I suffered the bad part during the end of the transfer."
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but