No way back for Tevez at City, says Mancini

Manchester: Carlos Tevez's decision to return to Argentina without permission has ended any hope of the striker playing for Manchester City again, manager Roberto Mancini says.

Suspended by City for two weeks and fined a fortnight's wages for refusing to warm up during a Champions League game against Bayern Munich, Tevez compounded the situation by flying to his native country during the international break last week without prior permission from the club.

Mancini said after the Bayern match that Tevez was "finished" as a City player. However, the Italian had offered the Argentine an olive branch earlier this month by saying that if he apologised, things could go back to normal.

That option seemed to be closed on Friday as Mancini reverted to the stance he expressed after that game in Munich, following Tevez's no-show at training this week.

Asked if the 27-year-old Tevez could play for City again, Mancini said: "I don't think so."

Mancini said the club had been unable to make contact with Tevez.

"I know he is in Argentina. I don't know what he is doing," the Italian coach said.

Tevez's last appearance for City was in a League Cup match against Birmingham on September 21.

Six days later, Tevez was named as a substitute against Bayern but went against Mancini's orders by refusing to warm up in the second half of a match City lost 2-0.

An internal disciplinary hearing found Tevez guilty of five breaches of contract, including bringing the club into disrepute and failing to follow the instructions of his manager.

City are top of the Premier League ahead of Saturday's home match against fellow unbeaten side Newcastle.

Mancini managed to crack a small joke over the situation, while also making it clear it was time to move on.

"He can't play tomorrow," he grinned. "We can't continue to talk about Carlos, we have an important game."

He added that there had been no contact between the player and the club, contrary to media reports that club officials had been talking to his representative.

"Why we should continue to talk about Carlos?" Mancini asked. "It is not a problem in this moment. We had this problem ... We hope we can resolve everything."