That was the view of his pal and countryman Pablo Zabaleta, who said the striker, still absent without leave in Argentina, could yet play a part in the destiny of the title.
The Blues regained top spot from United with a gritty 1-0 win at Aston Villa yesterday but Tevez continues to grab the attention.
His camp say that the player could return in the next day or two, although City have not been told of Tevez’s plans.
M.E.N. Sport also understands that, as far as City and manager Roberto Mancini are concerned, the situation remains that Tevez must apologise if he wants to be considered for selection.
Zabaleta said that if Tevez does return and thrash out an agreement with Mancini, he would be welcomed by the players, even if many fans are adamant he should never pull on a blue shirt again. But the Argentine defender also said that City must ensure that the issue does not distract from the job in hand.
“I miss Carlos and we haven’t seen him for a long time,” said Zabaleta. “In this situation we have to be very calm.
“People talk too much about it, for sure, about when he will be back, but we have to concentrate and be focused on what we are doing.
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“This situation has been crazy for everybody, for the players, the club and especially for Carlos. If we see him coming back this week, it depends on the manager’s decision whether he is given another chance or not.
“As a player, if he comes back he will be another player in the squad. We know him but I think we have to be very strong in this moment, to be focused on what we are doing.”
Some City fans feel Tevez should not be allowed to play again on a point of principle but others are more pragmatic and feel that if he enhances their title chances, he should be used.
Zabaleta said: “He would be welcomed by the players, because it was a difficult situation for everybody. But most important is that we are doing well as a team.”
Mancini, tired of talking about the whole affair, hinted that he will still want an apology if Tevez is to re-join the first team squad, saying: “It’s up to him. Carlos knows everything. We are here, we didn’t change City in these three months.
“Carlos is a City player. I am there, Carlos knows. I spoke to him one week after Munich.
“I think it is a bad moment to talk about shaking hands but I forgive all the people all the time.” Tweet
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For me Carlos has always been difficult to love.
If he makes a contribution and enhances his transfer value fine. If he scores I'll applaud the team. If he lifts a trophy I'll stay silent and cheer the next player in line.
When he goes I'll breathe a sigh of relief.
In Roberto we trust.
FORZA MANCINI!
Carlos must apologise to us the fans, the owner, the manager and our great players. Then get fit and get out on the pitch and do what we know you can, fight for every ball and score lots of goals. ( a few assists would be nice)
CTID
Will Sergio be able to work with Carlos?Everyone knows David Silva can work with anyone so no problem there ,but Sergio I'm not sure.
What a crazy situation for everyone involved & a very expensive one for Carlito !.
dont know how to feel about this...really rated him before xmas 2010. my heart says a big, fat NO!!!.... however my head says he MAY be fit enough to play in a month and MAY be that "little spark" that ignites us to glory.....YEH RIGHT! IF he plays for us again, and IF he scores goals, I, for one, will genuinely not know wether to celebrate!...just my honest, heart-felt opinion fellow blues
Tevez is still a city player under contract with us, he should come back apologise and get back to what he is good at!. Just football and leave all the problems aside!!!
this is a very immotive subject, and part of me says he can stay away from the club and never come back, but the bigger part says (as long as he apologises to Mancini and the players) that he has the quality and experience in these last couple of months to push us over the line and help win the title. Maybe it is time, for the sake of everyone, to forgive and forget and move on, then review the situation in summer as PL champions
If he can help win the title......
It will help showcase him for a sale in the summer, and for us would be another weapon. we have to be pragmatic.
Lifes too short. Forgive and forget.
No thanks - Rodney Marsh for those old enough to remember.
At the end of the day we all know he done wrong BUT we would not be where we are today without him and must remember that. If the players and manager are willing to forgive then so am i. We have shown we dont need him but in the run in to the title he could be worth his weight in gold we are still paying his wages let him finnish the season put himself in the shop window and go from there. If he has said he wants to stay i think he will still go in the next transfer window we will see.
i did hear one of our fans on a radio phone in state "he would rather we did not win the league than win it with teves".i am afraid i do not go along with that.i want us to win the league,we have a very good chance.this season we have only utd as challengers,well maybe spurs with a chance,next season there could be four,five six challenging.if he plays and we win the title who is really bothered he will be gone at the end of the season anyway,and the record books will say we are champs.if the manager decides he will help i go along with what he wants
If the club, the manager and the players welcome him back we fans play our part as well. For the good of Manchester City if he can make a difference in the title race we bite our lip and support anyone who wears a blue shirt - we pride ousrelves in being fans that do that with their players. What happens in the summer will happen, it's what occurs before then that I'm interested in.
CTID
Would rather he'd been sold in transfer window. but if he comes back we have to pay his wages. so if we are doing that, and he's fit enough to play. then we should play him, he would give his normal 110% performance for city when he plays. and it would only benefit City. he may just score the winner that wins us the league when we play Utd.
Another poor performance for city yesterday i see, to go along with our poor away performances all season well that's what the papers say anyway. myself i would be writing it's performances like this when winning 1-0 away to villa and wigan, are the results that help win you premierships.
and now we have Kompany, balotelli, yaya, and possible tevez as well. things looking good. let's hope our home form picks up, or we will be in the relegation zone soon...
Please God NOOOOOOOoooo!
Pablo I respect you as a player and am sure you are only stating the club line on this, however this cannot be allowed to happen.
Carlos has caused a massive disruption to the Club.
If this man is allowed to come back , get himself fit, and perhaps play the last few games simply to collect a championship medal to which he will not have contributed and may even of made winning it even harder, then I am sorry but I for one will never see my beloved blues in the same light.
I would never boo a blue, but I certainly won't cheer him if he ever pulls on a city shirt again. CTID.
Not sure we can rely on him but if he does re-appear then we should use him as we are paying his wages.
If he apologizes then for me all can be forgiven. He is still one of the best strikers in the world so it would be foolish to leave him out of the side. Despite tevez's behavior I think us city fans should try to remember the good things he has done for the club, without his help we would not be top of the league at this moment in time.
With the toure brothers returning and balotelli it would be an extra boost if we can add Carlos to that list. Augero and tevez has the potential to be the most feared in the world.
Injury time against United, and Tevez comes on cracks in the winner, for our first title since 1968.........
Sorry to all fellow fans who felt insulted by Tevez's behaviour but to me he is one of the all time best City players - at least on the pitch. And seeing as we are paying him to play and score goals then if Mancini can welcome him back so can I. Being honest if he scores a few goals on our way to winning the title I will be cheering him aswell as the others when they lift the trophy!
CTID.
Its the current team who has got us this far, no thanks to him. For better or worse, it should stay that way, for me.
He needs to apologise publicly
As much as my heart says let him rot, if he apologizes to Mancini and the team, that's good enough for me. A fit Carlos who contributes to the title run is worth much more on the transfer market. On the pitch, he's always given 100% to the shirt, and we wouldn't be in this position without his play over the last 2 seasons.
In Roberto we trust.
CTID
Before everyone starts falling out with each other and contradicting ourselves, lets not get caught up in what will now become a media frenzy and could potentially disrupt our title campaign.
First, he's got to actually arrive back in Manchester.
Secondly, he's got to apologise.
Thirdly, he's got to re-iterate that he really does want to give his all for the club etc
Fourthly, he's got to prove his fitness and become match sharp (at least a month) before he can even think about getting a place in the first team.
If/when that happens then we can consider playing him and what our thoughts are. Until then, I'm more concerned with picking up 6 points from 2 very winnable home games and looking at utds fixtures having at least a 4 point cushion going into a very tough 11 remaining games