Manchester City boss Roberto
Mancini has conceded that captain
Carlos Tevez could leave Eastlands
in the summer, regardless of
whether the club qualify for the
Champions League or not.
Tevez’s future at City has been
subject of speculation since he
handed in a transfer request earlier
in the season, only to withdraw it a
week later following talks with his
manager.
Despite being in the hunt for
Champions League qualification and
with an opportunity to end City ’s
35-year trophy drought, Mancini
does not believe that a successful
season on the pitch would be
enough to secure the future of his
top goal scorer.
Mancini was quoted as saying by
the Daily Mirror: “We need to talk
with Carlos [about staying], but we
have time to do this, at the
moment, the two most important
things are to win the FA Cup and
finish in the top four.
“ It’s more important to know when
Carlos can play. Hopefully after we
win the FA Cup and get in the
Champions League we can talk
about his position.
“ I don’t think it depends on getting
into the Champions League, no. But
we know how important it is that
we finish in the top four and win the
FA Cup, for the club. ”
Mancini had also previously raised
questions as to whether Tevez
would feature in the FA Cup final
unless he could prove his fitness
beforehand, but the Italian will
reinstate the Argentine as captain if
he can.
He said: “Carlos will be skipper when
he is fit, absolutely. I can not say if
he will be guaranteed a place,
because he has to be 100% fit.
“ If he is it depends for the cup final.
It’s important that we have all the
players available. We also have big
games in the Premier League.
“ We can’t just think of the final, we
can’t forget the other games in the
league, they are very important -
more important than the final at this
moment.
“ If we take a risk because we want
to play with Carlos and he’s not
ready then it can be a problem for
him and for us. We don ’t want that
to happen.”
Mancini also moved to end
speculation about his own future,
insisting he wanted to continue to
build a side at Eastlands.
“ Absolutely, if it is down to me then
I will stay here. I have put in a lot of
hard work to get here, ” he said.
“I would be very disappointed after
all the work to hand it over to
someone else. I hope the work here
will be easier from now on.
“ I want to concentrate on City
because we are one of the teams
who can challenge for big things. I
want to think about getting in the
Champions League and winning the
FA Cup. ”
September 01, 2009, 05:22:49 AM