Houston ? Texas slugger Juan Gonzalez rejected a trade to Montreal, exercising a no-trade clause in his contract Friday three days after the teams agreed to a deal.

Rangers general manager John Hart made a deal Tuesday to send the two-time AL MVP to the Expos for prospects, possibly three, if the 33-year-old outfielder accepted the trade.

Montreal general manager Omar Minaya, who has a long history with the slugger, traveled to Texas Wednesday in hopes of persuading Gonzalez to accept the deal.

But in a statement before Friday night’s game against Houston, Gonzalez — who wasn’t in the lineup — said he would remain with the Rangers.

“During my career, I’ve learned a lot,” Gonzalez said. “I signed with Texas as a kid. Texas is a very special place to me. Also, Omar Minaya is a very special person in my life, and I want to thank Montreal and him for their interest. However, I have a no-trade clause and respectfully decline the trade to Montreal.”

Gonzalez, in the last year of his $24 million, two-year deal with Texas, had until this morning to invoke the no-trade clause.

Minaya said Gonzalez expressed some concerns about coming to Montreal.

“Going to a new league was one and playing on turf was another,” Minaya said. “Some of it also was the possibility of a long-term contract beyond this year.”

Minaya said the Expos, who are owned by the other 29 major-league teams and had 22 of their home games moved by the commissioner’s office to San Juan, Puerto Rico, this season to raise revenue, aren’t in position to guarantee long-term contracts to any player.

“We were not able to offer Juan long-term security,” Minaya said. “We don’t even know where we’re going to be next season.”

Minaya, who helped develop Gonzalez for the Rangers in the mid-1980s when he coached the Gulf Coast Rangers for three years, thought Gonzalez would have given Montreal’s lineup a boost with standout Vladimir Guerrero sidelined because of a back injury.

“Getting a Juan Gonzalez was getting a guy who could keep us close in the race until Vladimir came back,” Minaya said. “Ideally, you would like to have that guy and he would have fit in well with our clubhouse.”

Hart said the Rangers and manager Buck Showalter still would go forward with their youth movement and some Rangers veterans might have to share playing time with the youngsters.

“We still are going to compete and I think the key word here is if Buck feels the young players need to get at-bats and playing time, some of the veterans’ playing time will be sacrificed,” Hart said. “Our future is headed in that direction.”

Showalter said he wouldn’t change his plans to get playing time for the Texas youngsters.

“Anytime you have young players up here, you wouldn’t be keeping them here if you can’t give them enough time with their development,” Showalter said. “It doesn’t mean they’ll play every day though.”

Hart said he was disappointed the deal did not go through.

“This closes the chapter on the trade with Montreal,” he said. “Juan is a part of this club and we will go forward. We are disappointed we won’t be able to get some young players, but we knew this possibility existed.”