Premier League - Tevez says sorry to Man City

Tue, 21 Feb 21:32:00 2012

Manchester City finally got the apology they had been waiting for when striker Carlos Tevez said he was sorry for his behaviour over recent months, setting up a possible return to action at the Premier League club.

Manchester City's Carlos Tevez - 0

The Argentine striker also withdrew his appeal against a gross misconduct charge handed to him after he spent three months in his homeland without the club's permission.

"I wish to apologise sincerely and unreservedly to everybody I have let down and to whom my actions over the last few months have caused offence," Tevez said in a club statement.

"My wish is to concentrate on playing football for Manchester City Football Club," added the 28-year-old, who has not played for City since refusing to warm up in September's Champions League defeat at Bayern Munich.

City manager Roberto Mancini, who after the events in Germany said Tevez was "finished" at the club, has previously suggested the striker could play again if he simply apologised.

With that apology now uttered, the question will be whether he will now get the chance to take part in the club's pursuit of a first league title since 1968.

He acknowledged last week he would have to be "brilliant" on the pitch to win over fans who burned shirts with his name on and having not played competitively for more than four months there are also question marks over his fitness.

City said the striker had begun a training programme "designed to return him to optimum fitness".

His prolonged and unauthorised absence prompted the club to fine him six weeks' wages after finding him guilty of gross misconduct for serious breaches of contract.

Tevez had lodged an appeal with the Premier League over the charge but has now withdrawn it, according to the club.

The return to Manchester and the apology are the start of the major bridge-building Tevez needed to do before any possible appearance in a sky blue shirt.

He did not help his cause last week when on the day of his departure from Argentina he accused Mancini of treating him "like a dog" in Munich and criticised his manager's handling of the entire situation.

Mancini rejected his accusations and said that if anything he had been too nice to the rebel forward.

However, the Italian has also said it would be better if Tevez was playing for the club as he was the sort of player who could change games.

The former City captain, whose work rate and goal-scoring prowess have never been in question, could make a return at a key part of the season.

Sitting two points clear of champions Manchester United at the top of the Premier League table with 60 points from 25 games, they might welcome the comeback of last season's joint top scorer for the title run-in.

Mancini wary of Porto

Reuters

Comment 483 - 502 of 502

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  1. Get Rid of Tevez,He broke his contract,he is no good to­ any English Clubs.

    From colin, on Mon 27 Feb 4:32

  2. teves is brilliant

    From Albert, on Sun 26 Feb 0:16

  3. This guy is taking the piss & city are letting him.­ He wants to play now... yes now he can sniff a trophey­ he wants to play.... total scum!
    His type will kill­ football, holding clubs & even worse the supporters­ to ransom, just as Rooney did last year, i just wish­ someone would have the balls to hang em out to dry for­ a couple of seasons. I thought that would be city but­ obviously not!

    From barry_close, on Sat 25 Feb 22:30

  4. It's Mancini's fault. The Italian drama queen­ is a terrible man manager. He should be sacked.

    From Singha, on Fri 24 Feb 1:21

  5. 6-1 6-1 6-1 6-1 6-1 6-1 6-1 ha ha ha loving it!!!!!!!

    From tez, on Thu 23 Feb 6:42

  6. liverpool winning silverware and man-city lg­ champions!, arsenal and manure suffering!is it a dream?­ best season ever thats what it is!!!!

    From tez, on Thu 23 Feb 6:40

  7. dr graham..we are going to thrash u 6-1 in april!!­ analize that!! geek!!!!

    From tez, on Thu 23 Feb 6:38

  8. welcome back carlos, now lets beat the scum!!!! [ 6-1­ of course, its our fave number..ha ha]

    From tez, on Thu 23 Feb 6:36

  9. Doesn't look like Dr Graham has any answer to the­ truth about SAF wanting Tevez to stay, does it? After­ all, it's so much more comforting to trumpet SAF as­ the wise old man who saw trouble ahead and wanted to­ get rid, isn't it? On this showing SAF­ doesn't quite live up to the hype, does he?

    From flyingvic, on Thu 23 Feb 6:10

  10. flyingvic
    I think thats Tevez's real problem here,­ being down the pecking order at the start of the­ season, a good pro would put the head down and work his­ way back into the team but Tevez thought because he­ performed heroics the season before deserved to be top­ dog, he's a warrior but also has an inflated ego,­ and yes I think he's only going to play for City­ again so his career does'nt go down the drain, in­ the back of his mind he wants City relegated!!

    From Anfieldstar, on Thu 23 Feb 1:20

  11. Anfieldstar, Tevez hasn't played for City again­ yet! And some of doubt whether he ever will - but­ moving in this direction, as I've posted before,­ closes any loophole that he might try to use to claim­ that he should be released from his contract because­ the club is denying him the opportunity to play. ­ Mancini seems to rate him lower than Aguero, Dzeko and­ Balotelli - which is why he was on the bench that night­ in Munich rather than on the pitch, so there will in­ any case be no rush to get him back into the team.

    From flyingvic, on Thu 23 Feb 0:55

  12. Well malc I was'nt necessarily talking about every­ City fan, but some.... and to welcome this guy back­ after all the disrespect he's shown is criminal, we­ would'nt have Nando back and all he done was slap­ in a transfer request, Tevez may as well have gone­ around to every City fans house and s'hat on the­ doorstep, he does'nt deserve another chance!! Oh­ and we're lovin Andy Carroll at the moment, the big­ man is finally showing something!!

    From Anfieldstar, on Thu 23 Feb 0:36

  13. And why, exactly, was "Welcome to Manchester"­ a 'fiasco'? We had two great years out of­ him, as you did, and loads of great goals. Anyway, as­ has been said before, that poster was placed in the­ middle of Manchester where only City fans would see it,­ while United's feeble countdown banner since­ City's last trophy was only seen by Londoners and­ prawn-sandwich eaters. To listen to United, ours was­ disgraceful while theirs was just banter. Why are­ United so pathetic?

    From flyingvic, on Thu 23 Feb 0:36

  14. You want the facts about Tevez' departure from­ United? How about the official statement issued by­ United and reported by the BBC?

    Page last updated­ at 13:27 GMT, Saturday, 20 June 2009 14:27 UK

    Man Utd­ announce Tevez departure
    Tevez will not be playing at­ Old Trafford in a United shirt again
    Manchester United­ have confirmed that Carlos Tevez is leaving the­ club.
    United were willing to pay the £25.5m to turn the­ striker's two-year loan move into a permanent­ five-year deal but Tevez, 25, has decided to move on.­
    "Disappointingly, his advisors informed the club­ that he does not wish to continue playing for­ Manchester United," read a United statement.­
    "The club thanks Carlos for his services over the­ last two seasons and wishes him good luck for the­ future."

    Mandeep Sanghera - BBC Sport

    United­ said they were willing to make Tevez "one of its­ highest paid players" but were told by the­ Argentine international's advisors, who own the­ player's economic rights, that he would not be­ accepting the offer.

    The forward's advisor, Kia­ Joorabchian, said: "During the last two years he­ wasn't really offered a contract. He had never been­ offered a permanent stay there and over the last 10­ days Manchester United did make an offer to­ him.
    "I just want to make it very clear that­ Carlos has never asked for any money. He has never­ asked for an increase in his salary and we never asked­ for a greater sum of money."

    From flyingvic, on Thu 23 Feb 0:28

  15. hey anfailed - our problem is a player that dont wanna­ play for us,
    your problem is players not worthy­ of playing for you wahaahhaahaa
    i bet you wish­ carroll would piss off and play golf in argentina

    From Mr Angry of eastlands, on Thu 23 Feb 0:21

  16. flyingvic i am not having a go at city fans as i have­ said in comment 496 i hope you get there my comment is­ telling utd scum bags they are not the best because­ they say they are and you are right money will not bye­ success look what happened to ac milan a few years a go­ half there team was world internationals that cost­ money they finnished up half way down the league

    From Maurice, on Thu 23 Feb 0:13

  17. Flyin Vic

    Get your facts right SAF refused to pay­ the asking price. Was City trying to get one over­ United who met the asking price and offered him a­ ridiculous wages packet. Came back to bite you ­ Especially with the fiasco of the Placard Welcome to­ Manchester with his face all over it LOL When will­ you live that down

    From Dr Graham J Smith DD, on Thu 23 Feb 0:10

  18. Easy to say "Sorry". Harder to mean it.

    From John, on Wed 22 Feb 23:46

  19. Man Utd mugged City off with a player not good enough­ to get in our first team and the player mugs city off­ then comes back to mug them off again in an attempt to­ get a large share of any transfer fee in the summer and­ City are so desperate to stop their rot they are going­ to play the Utd reject lol Trouble is he has been out­ of the game too long and will take at least 8 games to­ get back to fitness and by then it is too late and no­ matter how well he plays, nobody is ever going to pay­ more than a few million for him. He dont care though­ cos he is mugging City off and getting his quarter­ million every week lol

    From MUFC Champions by 9 points, on Wed 22 Feb 23:41

  20. He must have run out of money so wants his job back. He­ should be DEPORTED back to Argentina as we don't­ want their scum

    From dfhowe, on Wed 22 Feb 23:33
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