At last! After five months Tevez finally apologises in row with Manchester City
Carlos Tevez has finally backed down in his five-month row with Manchester City and apologised for his behaviour.
After a three-hour meeting with his representatives and City’s football administrator Brian Marwood on Tuesday night, Tevez finally agreed to release a statement at 9.30pm.
As Sportsmail revealed last week, the former City captain has also decided to drop his appeal to the Barclays Premier League against the £1.8million fine and gross misconduct charge he was hit with by the club in the New Year.
Crunch talks: Carlos Tevez has issued an apology after a two-hour meeting with senior Manchester City officials
City coach Roberto Mancini was not in Tuesday's meeting but is understood to be happy with the latest developments - signed off by the club’s owners in Abu Dhabi - and will now be left to decide if and when Tevez is re-integrated into his first team squad.
Tevez's statement said: '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. My wish is to concentrate on playing football for Manchester City Football Club.'
Tevez was told on his return from his unauthorised three-month absence from City last week that he would need to apologise privately and publicly to Mancini if he was to have any chance of playing for the club again.
City also released a statement, which read: 'Carlos Tevez has today apologised to all concerned for his recent conduct. Carlos returned to the football club last Tuesday, following a three-month absence from duties, without permission.
Touchdown: Tevez was mobbed when he arrived back at Manchester airport on February 14
'Carlos has also withdrawn his appeal against the club's finding of gross misconduct which was due to be heard by a Premier League panel in the coming days. He has since begun a training programme designed to return him to optimum fitness.'
Although Tuesday night's statement doesn’t mention his coach by name, Mancini has told club officials he is satisfied. The two men - yet to meet since Tevez’s return last week - are expected to sit down together in the coming days.
Mancini is open-minded about playing the South American again but resentment between the two sides still lingers and it seems City would need to suffer a crisis of form or fitness for Tevez to be considered for a game.
After enduring an up and down relationship with his coach last season, things came to a head for Tevez last September with a disagreement on the bench during a Champions League game at Bayern Munich.
After being banished to train on his own in November, Tevez left for South America without permission and only returned at the start of this month after proposed moves to the two Milan clubs collapsed.
Getting up to speed: Tevez has been training at the club since his return
Samir Nasri might be having to make do with the Europa League as a Manchester City player, but he has no regrets over his decision to leave Arsenal in a £24m move last summer.
Arsenal’s imminent exit from the Champions League at the hands of AC Milan - meaning a seventh season without a trophy for the Gunners - only supports Nasri’s conclusion that the attractive football embodied by Arsene Wenger’s side was never going to guarantee the kind of success he hopes to achieve at the Etihad.
City are top of the Premier League and on course to reach the last 16 of the Europa League as they take a 2-1 lead into today’s second leg at home to holders FC Porto. And the France midfielder pointed to last week’s 2-1 comeback win in Portugal and the 1-0 victory at Aston Villa that preceded it as proof of their ability to ‘win ugly’.
In the swing of things: Tevez has spent more time on the golf course than the football pitch since heading back to Argentina
‘Arsenal play good football but after seven years they don’t win so that’s difficult for them,’ said Nasri. ‘Sometimes it’s good to win ugly. You don’t always have to play good football to win.
We did it against Aston Villa and against Porto as well. Here, we are hungry because we want to win titles.
‘I don’t want Arsenal to fall down. I wanted them to win the FA Cup or something because I have respect for the players there and the manager. I know they’ll find some solution.
‘But I’ve never doubted I made the right choice in coming here. We are top of the league and still on course for the Europa League so I’m really happy. What Arsenal do doesn’t matter, it was just my choice.
Friends again: It remains to be seen if Roberto Mancini includes Tevez in his squad
‘I never asked City to pay £24m,’ added the 24-year-old. ‘It was a lot of money but every transfer now has a lot of money. What you want to do is give something to the team.
‘It’s always tough when you change and go to another team. You have to be involved 100 per cent and I wasn’t. Now I’m starting to settle and you will see a better Samir every week.
‘You have to work when you are not producing what everyone expects from you but I was always confident about my quality. Now I want to show everyone it wasn’t a mistake.’
The first leg of this tie was over-shadowed by allegations that Porto fans aimed racist chants at Mario Balotelli and Yaya Toure.
UEFA have opened disciplinary proceedings against Porto and will deal with the case on March 29.
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