City reject £35m Tevez bid

High-level discussions have taken place at City and Press Association Sport understands it was decided to turn down the offer, which was submitted late on Monday.

It maintains the level of uncertainty surrounding Tevez's future, with the player desperate to leave for family reasons and City refusing to sanction the departure of their skipper without adequate compensation.

No reason has been given by City for their stance, which will not go down well with Tevez, who is currently at the Copa America in Argentina.

However, when the 27-year-old publicly expressed a desire to move away from the club last week, City officials immediately stressed that with three years left on the striker's contract, they were in the strongest bargaining position.

Using the £50million Chelsea paid Liverpool for Fernando Torres as a guide, City pointed out that as they regarded Tevez as one of the world's best forwards, they saw no reason why he should be allowed to leave on the cheap. And - having discovered it could cost around £45million to get Atletico Madrid's Sergio Aguero in as a replacement - it appears City's stance remains the same.

Tevez has made public his wish to leave City this summer, citing a desire to be closer to his two children and their mother, who live in his native Argentina.

Though it was expected that the striker would move to Italy or Spain, it now appears Tevez is keen on an unlikely return to the club he represented between 2004 and 2006 before he made a shock transfer to West Ham.

Few clubs can match the financial demands of both City and the player but the Argentine's agent Kia Joorabchian appears confident that a transfer to Corinthians is a realistic possibility.

"Negotiations have already begun. Corinthians are in contact with us," Joorabchian said.

"His dream and mine is to see him back with Corinthians. He said he has a job that does not end there, he wants to return because he has the dream of winning the Copa Libertadores.

"Corinthians have made the offer, now it depends only on Manchester City. City has to make a decision.

"Everybody is working to make this happen, I, Corinthians, Tevez, Adrian Ruocco (another representative of the player). It is impossible to determine the situation, but I think it's close."

Tevez was named South American Footballer of the Year in 2003, 2004 and 2005, spanning spells with Boca Juniors and Corinthians, and appears interested in returning to the Brazilian club.

Tevez told Telefe: "If there is interest, I don't have any problem in returning to Corinthians."