Man City fear AWOL striker Carlos Tevez won't return to club
Nov 12 2011 By Steve Bates and Tom Hopkinson
MANCHESTER CITY believe Carlos Tevez, AWOL in Argentina, will never return to the club.
Sources say that the strikers head is in bits and that he will risk being sued by City rather than return to Manchester.
That opens the way for Italian giants Inter Milan to rescue Tevezs career Inter president Massimo Moratti will make formal contact with City this week to propose a s30million January move.
But City have had no direct contact with Tevez since he left the UK last week. He has been in dispute with manager Roberto Mancini since his alleged Munich mutiny and if he refuses to return this week the Premier League leaders have options to cancel his contract and sue.
City could withhold his registration and prevent him playing again although its more likely they will offload him to Inter, who have made a disastrous start to the Serie A season.
Tevezs advisors last night refused to comment on when the unsettled Argentinian would fly back to Manchester but it is clear that the stand-off between club and player has now reached a critical stage and the next few days will be crucial to his future.
Tevez was rated in the s60m bracket but his turmoil at the Etihad has prompted Inter to make a cut-price offer.
The Italian outfit lie fourth from bottom of Serie A with just eight points from nine games and Moratti is ready to strike a blow in the transfer market to revive his sides fortunes.
Moratti has already contacted Tevezs agent Kia Joorabchian and will now speak to City and Mancini, who has been in Abu Dhabi this week to discuss the Tevez turmoil with the clubs owners, after putting himself in sole charge of pulling off the deal.
City fined Tevez four weeks wages s1m after an internal inquiry found him guilty of refusing to play against Bayern Munich in the Champions League defeat in September. And the former City skipper now faces a {further fine of around the same amount after going AWOL last week.
City believe Tevez ignored instructions to remain in Manchester and instead flew to Argentina on Monday night.
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