Teves completes Man Utd transfer

Manchester United have finally completed the signing of Argentine striker Carlos Tevez. The summer saga involving Tevez eventually came to an end when the Premier League approved the deal – thought to be a two-year loan.

The 23-year-old had become a free agent when his agent Kia Joorabchian paid former club West Ham a £2m settlement.

Tevez is eligible to play against Reading on Sunday but the striker is not yet match fit.

His first game is likely to be the derby at Manchester City on Sunday 19 August.

Manager Sir Alex Ferguson said: “Carlos has surprised us. We thought he would need more training but he looks in great shape.

“It is a difficult situation to assess because a derby game can be frenetic. Once we know he can play, we can make a decision quite easily.”

Tevez’s registration as a United player brings to an end a long-running saga, which began back in April when West Ham were fined for breaching league rules when they signed the striker and his Argentine team-mate Javier Mascherano.

Cech shrugs off Chelsea criticism

Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech says criticism about his side’s supposed lack of flair does not concern him. “In the end what counts is points and trophies.

If you play beautiful football and finish fourth like Arsenal then it is maybe nice to say you played brilliant football but you never have a trophy. Personally you don’t want that to happen and your fans don’t want it to happen either because everyone wants the trophies and the glory.”

And Cech knows what he thinks is the most important characteristic for a team chasing the title.

“You need resilience too, ” he explained. “Even when you don’t play well and have problems or injuries you need to keep winning and hopefully that is what we can do.”

Blues boss Jose Mourinho says Chelsea will have more of an attacking edge to their game in the forthcoming campaign and Cech hopes opposing teams are less cautious too.

Beckham makes MLS debut for Galaxy

David Beckham had let enough fans down. He was ready to play in his first Major League Soccer game, despite the sore ankle and a downpour that reminded him of home made him even more eager to take the field.

The English midfielder played the final 21 minutes in the Los Angeles Galaxy’s 1-0 loss to D.C. United at soggy RFK Stadium on Thursday night, the biggest debut for a foreign star in a U.S. soccer league since Pele arrived in 1975.”It’s not nice to disappoint people,” Beckham said. “It’s not nice to disappoint people that paid a lot of money to come and see the game. I was glad to get on the pitch tonight. It was a good night, but it was a bad night, too, because we ended up losing the game.”

Beckham joined the Galaxy last month but his left ankle, healing from a June injury, had limited him to one exhibition game. Afterward, he spoke of perhaps playing an entire half on Sunday at New England and an entire game Aug. 18 at New York.

“There’s was tenderness; there was hesitation,” Beckham said. “I hadn’t played for eight weeks, hadn’t trained for eight weeks. I was happy to get out there and get at least 20 minutes.”

The sellout crowd of 46,686, who waited anxiously to see if this would be the night Beckham would finally play in a competitive match, roared when the 32-year-old star stripped off his warmup jacket and T-shirt, displaying his bare chest, and prepared to enter as a second-half substitute. The three-time World Cup veteran, his hair closely cropped and stubble on his face, then put on his No. 23 jersey and replaced Quavas Kirk in the 72nd minute.