Carlos Tévez willing to stay at Manchester City's until the summer, but then wants to leave

The 26 year-old will return to training on Tuesday and will continue to make himself available for first-team duty. He is prepared to travel to Turin, for example, for Thursday’s Europa League tie against Juventus even though it is a 'dead rubber’.

It is understood that Tévez also accepts that City might want to strip him of the captaincy because he submitted a written transfer request and because of his statement on Sunday evening which highlighted that his relations with “certain executives” had “broken down beyond repair”.

That was a clear reference to chief executive Garry Cook, in particular, who is believed to have taken an aggressive stance to Tévez’s situation after the Argentine made it known that he wanted to quit City last July. Although the player made reference to this in his statement, the club have subsequently denied Tevez asked for a move in the summer.

City blame Tévez’s representative, Kia Joorabchian, for the souring of relations while there are two polarised claims: the club insist the rift is about money and the demand for a new contract, while the player’s camp are adamant that his desire to leave is about his happiness.

Significantly, City do not deny that Tévez was offered a bonus, thought to be around £5 million earlier this season, which the player turned down.

If he was purely motivated by money it is hard to believe he would not have accepted the offer, for example, which was unsolicited. Tévez’s camp reject claims that they asked for an improved deal last week.

It is hoped that the stand-off between the two sides might calm down over the next few days and it may well be that the way in which the club now approach Tévez determines how this crisis plays out.

The onus would appear to be on Cook. Tévez has made it plain that he wants to leave in January but having also outlined, in his statement, “the need to clear my head”, a more conciliatory approach from the club might improve relations. However the fact that Tévez has been unhappy for some time and the fact that this has not been dealt with, does not bode well.

Certainly the threat from the club that they might sue Tévez for breach of contract will not help matters. That course of action would be met head-on with sources claiming on Monday night that the striker would be willing to go to arbitration — and then Fifa — to buy himself out of his contract.

It was also pointed out that such cases usually do not end with a player’s market value being met, so Tévez would leave for less than City could sell him for.

If Tévez were to stay at City and sign a new deal it would undermine his argument that he is unable to carry on at the club and the belief that the estrangement from his partner, Venesa, who is back in Argentina, and the lack of access to his two children has compounded the problems he has faced.

In theory, if there was a change to the way City were run Tévez’s feelings might alter but the reality is that he wants to leave, and is determined to do so, and his most likely destination would be Spain. There are more direct flights to Buenos Aires from Spain and given the shared language, it might encourage his former partner to bring the children over more often to see him.

Chelsea are interested in signing Tévez but it would be highly unlikely, despite the admiration of manager Carlo Ancelotti, that he would remain in England should be leave City.

The problem for now is that City cannot afford to destabilise their highly-promising season by selling Tévez in the January window — even though that is his hope — but also that they cannot continue with such an unhappy player in their ranks given his previous importance to them.

Despite their good form, City are facing a delicate situation given that Tévez is not the only disenchanted player in the squad.

Several have been frozen out under Roberto Mancini with the roll call of those who are not in the manager’s plans including Shay Given, Micah Richards, Wayne Bridge, Joleon Lescott, Craig Bellamy and Shaun Wright-Phillips. There are also question marks over how content others, such as Nigel de Jong and Mario Balotelli, are at the club.