Mancini and Tevez Set For D-Day Talks

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini will meet with his rebel striker Carlos Tevez tomorrow, in a bid to save the Argentine’s career at the club. The two haven’t spoken since Tevez’s representatives informed the City hierarchy that the forward wanted to leave, but Mancini is still hopeful of persuading him to stay.

Speaking ahead of City’s 1-1 Europa League draw with Juventus, Mancini said: “He is our player and it’s my opinion that Carlos will stay with us. But I want to speak with him. He can continue to play for us.

“I’m disappointed because I think that we are in a good moment and we have a good position in the table. Our focus must be on this, but before that, I said I want to speak with him. I’m happy for the team and other things, but I want to speak with Carlos and I repeat, Carlos has three years on his contract and, yes, I want him to stay.”

While Mancini is confident of talking Tevez round, it will be a massive shock to see Tevez willingly remain at the club. I use the word willingly because in reality if City don’t want to sell, they are the only club in the world that could afford to allow a player of Tevez’s stature to rot in the reserves.

City’s financial prowess has also meant that Tevez’s valuation has been greatly inflated and there are very few clubs in the world that could afford the sort of money that City are reported to be looking for, should Tevez not be persuaded to stay.

This demonstrates just how hard it will be for Tevez to manufacture a move away from City. There is often a talk about player power in football, but this transfer saga will emphasise just how powerful City have become.

As we saw with Craig Bellamy, City have the power to pick and chose where their players go. So while Tevez might be desperate for a move away from Eastlands, he might just have to be prepared to wait a very long time for it.

Sheikh Mansour’s takeover at the club has changed the footballing transfer market. While it created astronomically big wages for the likes of Tevez, it also created a new level of control over players, which has brought a whole new world of problems.