SOCCER:MANCHESTER CITY are prepared to take a hardline stance with Carlos Tevez and keep him at Eastlands against his will unless they receive a suitable offer, informing the player it will be the club's decision and they will not allow him to dictate what happens.

Khaldoon al-Mubarak, the chairman, has spoken to Tevez and his adviser, Kia Joorabchian, to ascertain why the club’s captain feels he has to leave Manchester this summer. Tevez is campaigning for a move to Spain or Italy but Mubarak is not going to allow personal issues to influence his decision, particularly when there is a suspicion at Eastlands about the frequency with which the player’s story has changed.

Tevez had blamed his poor relationship with the club’s chief executive, Garry Cook, and the football administrator, Brian Marwood, for submitting a transfer request in December, but his latest statement explained that he wanted to leave England to be closer to his daughters, Florencia and Katie.

They live in Argentina and Tevez has told the club he has found it impossible to persuade their mother, Vanesa, to return to Manchester since the couple, now reconciled, split up and she moved to Buenos Aires last year.

City had been anticipating a renewed attempt from the Tevez camp to reignite the possibility of leaving Manchester, but the club are determined not to accede to his wishes unless they receive an offer close to their valuation of €56 million. With Tevez earning in the region of €278,000 a week and established as the best-paid player in English football, that means only a small and elite band of clubs could have the money and stature to negotiate a suitable package.

Barcelona can be discounted due to a lack of interest and, though Juventus have made tentative inquiries, Tevez and Joorabchian appear to be basing their hopes on Internazionale, Milan or Real Madrid. City are finding it difficult to see where a deal can materialise and, on that basis, they are still planning for Tevez to be at the club next season.

Tevez, with the Argentina national side in the Copa America, may have to cling to the hope a player-plus-cash exchange can be arranged with one of the potential buyers.

Elsewhere, Cesc Fabregas fears his hopes of completing a move back to his boyhood club, Barcelona, could be frustrated beyond the weekend, with Arsenal and the Catalan side still at odds over their valuation of the Spain midfielder.

The 24-year-old reported for training as expected at London Colney yesterday with his representatives having made it clear to Arsene Wenger the player wishes to end his eight-year stay in north London to return to Barcelona.

Understandably given the player is under contract at the Emirates Stadium until 2015, the Premier League club have made it clear to the Fabregas camp he will only be permitted to leave for a fee deemed acceptable. That would amount to around €45 million, a figure Real Madrid had previously indicated they might be prepared to offer but at which Barca have balked.

The European champions have submitted two bids to date this summer, their opening salvo amounting to some €30 million with an improved offer that would eventually be worth around €39 million made last week, but neither has been considered acceptable by Wenger or the Arsenal hierarchy.

The north London club’s instinct is to sell the player to the highest foreign bidders who, at present, would appear to be Real – a club Fabregas has no intention of joining – unless Barca’s stance shifts.

The Catalans’ reluctance to up their interest further apparently hinges upon a dissatisfaction with the level of compensation they accrued when the highly-rated teenagers Jon Toral and Hector Bellerin moved to north London ahead of the season for a combined fee of around €667,000.

Barcelona rated the youngsters at nearer 10 times that amount and want that valuation factored into the fee for Fabregas, a compromise Arsenal are reluctant to grant.

Arsenal’s pursuit of the Velez Sarsfield midfielder Ricardo Alvarez is set to be frustrated, with Inter expected to thwart them by signing him.

The Italians are believed to have agreed an €13 million fee for the player, who is to sign a five-year contract at San Siro.

GuardianService