Manchester City coach David Platt admits Carlos Tevez is unlikely to play in City’s opening Premier League game at home to Swansea City.
GettyImagesCarlos Tevez will need more time to get fit
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Tevez has returned to City on Monday following a summer in which he has made clear his desire to leave the club in order to be closer to his family in Argentina. The Argentina striker arrived at the Carrington training ground as a passenger in a black Hummer, and exchanged an embrace with a security guard before going into the complex.
At one point last month appeared on the verge of a £40 million move to Corinthians, but negotiations collapsed as the Brazilian outfit were unable to complete any deal before the transfer deadline.
Despite rumours of interest from Inter Milan, no further bids were forthcoming for the striker, meaning he is set to resume his career at the Etihad Stadium. But he is light of match fitness, and so must wait before returning to competitive action.
“Just finished the Copa America and had three weeks off, which the players need. There’s only eight-nine days before that game [against Swansea], I think it’ll be tight,” Platt told Sky Sports News. “But Carlos is a strange one, in the sense he doesn’t need a lot of time to get back fit – so we’ll see. Once he’s back in the building, we’ll look at things then.”
Tevez’s path to a place in the starting XI has been blocked by the signing of his international team-mate Sergio Aguero, who joined for £38 million from Atletico Madrid in July.