Tevez: ´I can leave City´

Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez says club owner Sheikh Mansour has told him he can leave if he wants.

The Argentine has been the subject of endless speculation linking him with a move away from Eastlands.

But he revealed on Sunday Mansour had given him the go-ahead to leave the club if he wanted to do so.

“He signed me, he wants to keep me but, at the same time, he has told me to do whatever I need to do to be happy,” Tevez told The News of the World newspaper.

“He has told me, ‘if you want to leave, then you can go’. There is no deadline, it’s down to me.”

“They offered me a new contract in December but I didn’t want to extend it.”

“At the end of the season they offered me another new deal but at the moment I don’t know whether I will accept it.”

“There are options but if I don’t play for Real Madrid, Barcelona, Inter or Milan it won’t be a massive void in my life.”

“There are no other issues – Manchester is my second home.”

Tevez, 27, handed in a transfer request last December, but he played out the English Premier League season that saw City finish third.

He said the club’s chief executive, Garry Cook, failed to deliver on several promises and he held no regrets about trying to leave the club.

“It was a situation that some people on the board created. They promised something for six months and didn’t deliver,” Tevez said.

“So, after six months of promises, they don’t do something, why should I believe them now? I don’t. I will never speak to these people again. I still feel the same way.”

“I deal direct with Sheikh Mansour, no one else. It makes no difference to my future, as they don’t mean anything to me. I won’t have a relationship with them. They live in a different world.”

Tevez said he stayed in December because of his respect to the City fans, having considered quitting the game all together.

Having started his senior career with Argentine club Boca Juniors, Tevez admitted he wants to spend more time with his family, who live in Buenos Aires.

“The pressure isn’t the issue but I miss my family and my home life in Argentina too much to be away from them,” he said.