Centre of attention: A distracted Carlos Tevez sits
alongside team-mates (from left) Gareth Barry, Samir Nasri and
Pablo Zabaleta
Manchester City are determined that Carlos Tevez
will pay football's ultimate price for downing tools in Munich last
week - and end his days with the club as a first-team
outcast.
City manager Roberto Mancini has not deviated
from his post-match assertion that the Argentinian striker will
never kick a ball for City again. And an internal investigation is
expected to give the Italian total backing.
Tevez had planned to fly back to Argentina on
Friday to spend time with his family and avoid the media spotlight
but City have ordered him to be available for interview as part of
their investigation into his alleged conduct.
He will probably be interviewed tomorrow, while
team-mates will also give formal evidence this week.
Contrary to some reports, not all of the players
will claim ignorance of what happened in Germany, although only a
limited number of those who were on City's substitutes' bench in
Munich could have heard the exchanges between Tevez, other players
and the coaching staff.
A Mail on Sunday investigation by forensic
lip-readers suggests Tevez may indeed have defied Mancini rather
than been the victim of a misunderstanding, as he later
claimed.
Not bothered: But Tevez may have to sit out the next
three months
At one point
after being asked to warm up - for the second time - during City's
2-0 Champions League defeat by Bayern Munich, Tevez appears to tell
a member of City's backroom staff: 'No, leave me alone. I've said
no.'
In another excerpt, Tevez seems to say: 'Well,
who cares? I'm not going to.'
Later, he appears to say to Argentine compatriot
Pablo Zabaleta, who is sat next to him: 'You see what I
mean?'
It is unclear whether he is talking about City's
poor performance or asking Zabaleta to understand his
situation.
If the internal inquiry goes against Tevez, it is
thought he will not be allowed to train with the first team again
and will never wear a first team shirt for the remainder of the
three months he is likely to spend at the Etihaad
Stadium.
The City hierarchy are said to be in no mood to
hand Tevez a 'get-out' by cancelling his contract.
Instead, he will be made to stew in the reserves
and then leave in a cut-price deal in the January transfer
window.
Such a policy would carry the risk of
embarrassing Mancini and the club should an injury crisis leave the
manager short of strikers.
Pointing the finger: Roberto Mancini has a go at Carlos
Tevez in Munich
Quiet word: A member of the City coaching staff speaks
to Carlos Tevez
It would also mean selling a player who had been
out of the shop window for three months and sending a signal to
potential buyers that City were prepared to write off a huge slice
of the £47million they are claimed to have paid for him.
Last night it emerged that Suleyman Kerimov,
billionaire owner of recently established Russian Premier club
Anzhi Makhachkala, is ready to hand the South American a
multimillion pound escape route.
Kerimov whose notable signings this season are
former Real Madrid, Barcelona and Inter Milan striker Samuel Eto'o
and former Brazilian star defender Roberto Carlos has made it known
he is keen to add Tevez to his burgeoning squad of
stars.
