ISN’T IT AMAZING what a couple of disappointing results can do for a manager?
Having declared that striker Carlos Tevez was “finished” at Manchester City following his refusal to play for the club in the Champions League early on this season, Roberto Mancini has declared that the player could pull on a blue shirt once again.
Tevez is currently in Argentina, having failed to secure a move away from the Premier League side during the transfer window, and it isn’t yet known if he would be willing to return to club as the bust up with Mancini has cost him dearly in terms of fines and unpaid wages.
Ahead of City’s game at Aston Villa on Sunday, the Italian told reporters: “Everyone knows that Tevez is a top player and if he was here we would probably do better because Carlos can change a lot of games.
“We haven’t had him here and I don’t know what’s happened, maybe he can come back next week and he can help us in the last three months. It depends on his condition now, whether it’s good or not. He hasn’t played for four months but Carlos recovers strength very quickly.”
Hinting that there would be a role for Tevez, Mancini continued: “We played a lot of games with only one striker. Against Liverpool, United, that was the problem because Mario was injured and played only 20 minutes. There were other games where we only had two strikers and we did not have any change on the bench, another striker (or) another winger.
“Carlos knows the situation and I don’t know what will happen next week, but if Carlos comes back we will talk. I don’t have any problems.”
January was a difficult month for the title challengers following defeats at Sunderland and Everton in the league but the team is also struggling for goals away from the City of Manchester Stadium despite the form of the likes of Sergio Aguero, who has 15 goals so far this term, and Edin Dzeko, who has netted on 12 occasions.