Carlos Tevez could be back plying his trade in the Premier League as soon as this week after making a dramatic return to Manchester on 15 February.
A week after his surprise arrival in the UK, the Argentinean striker made an unreserved apology to the club and fans that now paves the way for a return to action.
A statement from Tevez read: “I wish to apologise sincerely and unreservedly to everybody I have let down and to whom my actions over the last few months have caused offence. My wish is to concentrate on playing football for Manchester City Football Club.”
The Blues’ manager Roberto Mancini accepted the apology and appeared satisfied to draw a line under the situation, but also made clear how well his team has performed while Tevez was absent.
After City’s win against FC Porto in the Europa League, Mancini said: “Yes Carlos has apologised, I don’t have any problem. Tomorrow I will meet him before training and after he can start to work with us.”
He added: “I think he needs maybe two, three weeks to find good form and after if he be ok then play, like the others players.
“I think Carlo [sic] knows the team very well but the team in the last six, seven months play very well, is on top of the Premier League… I think if he [is] good, I think he can help us to do a good job in the next two months.”
Only time will tell if this is a conclusion to a long-running saga or just another chapter in the troubled star’s career.
The current problem began as far back as 27 September when City were playing Bayern Munich in a Champions League tie. It appeared Tevez, who was on the substitute bench, refused a request from Mancini to go warm-up before being used as a possible replacement.
A major fall-out between the player and manager ensured, with Tevez claiming a misunderstanding in translation and Mancini determined the Argentinean would never play for the club again.
For his conduct Tevez was fined four weeks’ wages, which was subsequently halved by the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), and suspended for two weeks. Less than a fortnight later the 28-year-old flew home to Buenos Aires without permission, and that is where he remained until his recent return to the Eastlands club.
But signs of unease began as far back as August 2010 when Tevez declared after the World Cup in South Africa that he was unhappy with life in Europe, and that soccer was not making him happy.
“I have less and less will to carry on in Europe,” he said at the time. “I'll be here two or three more years and then I'll go back [home]. I've got to see if I carry on playing... it's difficult to quit now but if football doesn't make me happy and doesn't fulfil me as it used to, it's hard to carry on playing.”
Less than a week later Mancini handed City’s number 32 the captain’s armband. That wasn’t enough to dissuade Tevez from handing in another transfer request in late December 2010 Tevez, but this was withdrawn after some ‘clear the air’ talks.
What might prove to be the pinnacle of his career at Man City came in May of last year. While wearing the captain’s armband, the Blues beat Stoke City 1-0 in the FA Cup Final, and in doing so earned the club their first major trophy in 35 years.
But just a few weeks later the captain was expressing his unhappiness at living in Manchester. Speaking on a talk show in Argentina, he said: “There’s nothing to do in Manchester. There’s two restaurants and everything’s small. It rains all the time, you can’t go anywhere. There comes a moment where you say ‘Where am I going to go with my family?’ and you begin to feel bad.
“Of course, one trains, plays, does things, and when the family or friends come one feels bad and you can’t take them to the movies because they don’t understand anything. You can buy a house in Marbella and take a vacation. I will not return to Manchester, not for vacation, not anything.”
Early in July Tevez issued another transfer request, explaining it was for family reasons. With his wife Vanesa and their two daughters Florencia and Katia living in Buenos Aires, the striker was finding it intolerable to be so far from his family. Manchester was not an option because of the language barrier and climate, he felt, but a move back to South America or Spain would solve this problem.
The transfer request was rejected, and because of the request Tevez will no longer receive his loyalty bonus, estimated to be worth in the region of £1m (€1.18). The cancellation of the bonus was mentioned in the summer but only confirmed in the days leading up to the game with Bayern Munich in the Allianz Arena.
Tevez first moved to England in 2006 when he joined West Ham United. His winning goal against Manchester United on the final day of the season kept the Hammers in the Premier League for the next season. He then signed with opponents the Red Devils, where he stayed for two seasons before moving to Manchester City.
