Wednesday 5 February 2020 19:48, UK
Edinson Cavani would have joined Chelsea or Manchester United in January if he was driven by money, according to the Paris Saint-Germain forward's mother.
The 32-year-old, who has only six months left on his contract at the French champions, had been expected to move on in January amid interest from a host of clubs.
Chelsea and United were among the clubs credited with an interest, along with Atletico Madrid and David Beckham's newly-formed MLS franchise Inter Miami.
But Cavani's mother, Berta Gomez, insists a big-money move to the Premier League was never considered by her son.
"Edinson didn't want money to be the reason, because if it was about money, he would have gone to Manchester United, Chelsea or Inter Miami, who made a big offer for him," Gomez told Spanish newspaper AS.
Instead, Gomez suggested Cavani did "everything" possible to secure a move to Atletico and disputed claims made by the Spanish club's president, Enrique Cerezo, that the deal collapsed due to "greed".
"It's not impossible that Edinson goes to Atletico Madrid in the summer, if and when the president takes back what he said," she said.
"We don't understand why the president said such nonsense. It was out of place and it hurt us a lot. It is absolutely false to say that Walter (his brother and agent) asked for a fee from the signing.
"He should have told the fans why Cavani really didn't go to Atletico. It's because, firstly, PSG didn't want him to leave and secondly, Atletico never reached the amount PSG wanted when they negotiated.
"My son did everything he could to go to Atletico. He put pressure on by not playing at PSG and told his brother that he was willing to drop his wages to sign with Atletico.
"He wanted to play with Cholo (Diego Simeone) and he showed that at every turn."
