London - Carlos Tevez remains a key player for Manchester City, the Premier League club's boss Roberto Mancini insisted on Friday, despite the Argentine striker seeing his hopes of a transfer to Corinthians in Brazil collapse.
The 27-year-old Tevez, who wants to return to South America to be closer to his wife and two daughters, was stunned when Corinthians pulled out of a 40 million move.
But Mancini said the wantaway player is still welcome at the club.
"At the moment Carlos is still a City player, like yesterday, like three days ago," Mancini said on Sky Sports News.
"In the future we will see what can happen. But for us Carlos is an important player.
"Carlos wants to leave, wants to come back to Argentina or maybe another country for his family. It is only because of this I think that the club accepted to sell Carlos, because I think that we respect his reasons."
Earlier Thursday, Tevez's representative said that the striker remained unfazed by Corinthians' decision.
"This is Carlos Tevez we are talking about, one of the best players in the world. We are not overly worried," Kia Joorabchian told BBC Sport.
"He wants to leave but is still a City player at the moment and we will of course respect that. We've just got to wait and see who comes in next for him."
According to reports in British media, Tevez's Corinthians move faltered after City failed to receive bank guarantees for the transfer fee discussed.
However Joorabchian insisted the deal broke down because Corinthians were unable to process it before the closure of the Brazilian transfer window.
"This deal was always going to be difficult because of the timing," he added.
"In the end, this came down to small details, to haggling over a relatively small amount of money, and it couldn't be done in time.
"To say Corinthians could not provide guarantees for the money is nonsense.
"Firstly, they are the biggest club in Brazil. Secondly, any club that makes an offer and cannot pay will get suspended by FIFA and have points deducted," he said.