Tevez will be told to stay
MANCHESTER CITY manager Roberto Mancini will implore wantaway striker Carlos Tevez to remain at the club when the pair meet for showdown talks tomorrow.
Mancini is yet to confront his leading goalscorer, but is confident the 26-year-old can be talked out of leaving the club in January.
City have made it clear they intend to make sure Tevez honours the five-year contract he signed 18 months ago and his Italian manager will reinforce that stance when the duo meet face-to-face.
“I will say that he must stay here.” Mancini said. “I don’t think he is unhappy, really unhappy. I don’t think that.
“I will tell him that we can change the history of the club and, together, we can do good work this year.”
Though Mancini is adamant his star attraction will stay put, he did admit he was disappointed with the 26-year-old’s actions, which come at a time when the club are handily placed both in Europe and the Premier League.
City are just two points behind leaders Manchester United on the domestic front, and a win in Turin against Juventus tonight would see them progress to the next round of the Europa League as Group A winners.
He said: “I’m disappointed this has happened 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 because I repeat, Carlos has three years on his contract and, yes, I want him to stay.
“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 hope he can continue to be unhappy because he has scored 10 goals already as an unhappy player!”
Mancini admits that he has yet to decide on whether Tevez should retain the captain’s armband, but City midfielder Patrick Vieira insists that the forward’s demeanour around his teammates has not altered since his transfer request was made public at the weekend.
“We haven’t talked about it among the players.” Vieira said. “But in the last few days he has been the same Carlos that started the season.”