After a deal had been seemingly agreed between City and Corinthians, last last (UK time) there were rumblings that the supposed agreement was on the verge of collapse. Confirmation followed from Corinthians that with the transfer deadline in Brazil fast approaching, there was not enough time for a transfer to be completed:
Carlos Tevez faces the possibility of having to return to Manchester City against his wishes, after his proposed £40m move to Corinthians disintegrated because of the financial implications for the Brazilian club.
Tevez is now running out of potential new employers following the official announcement from Corinthians that it was "impossible" for them to conclude what would have been by far the biggest transfer in the history of Brazilian football before Wednesday night's transfer deadline.
"While acknowledging the efforts of Manchester City, and everyone involved in the negotiations, there wasn't enough time for the transfer to be completed," a Corinthians statement said. "We are aware our fans wanted Tevez to join our club again and we hope we can have the player with us in the future"
Given the nature of the whole Tevez saga to date, it is perhaps not surprising that there was to be a final twist just when matters looked to be drawing to a relatively smooth conclusion. Whilst there is still time remaining before the window shuts in Brazil it must be considered a long shot for any deal to be resurrected given that it appears Corinthians had been unwilling to sign off a deal that would have even seen City agree to defer the first (of four) instalment payments until May 2012.
Although reports of interest from Inter have again surfaced (with suggestions of a swap involving Wesley Sneijder) the difficulty facing both City and Tevez is (and something I have long stated) that there are very few realistic suitors for him, with the Corinthians interest (although there will now surely be debate as to how serious this actually was) seemingly coming out of the blue and few genuine fits for him in either Spain or Italy.
The European window of course still has some six weeks to go before closing but with the Premier League season a little over three weeks away, the prospect of Tevez having to return to the club with his future in limbo - not to mention a replacement in Sergio Aguero (should that deal be shortly concluded) having been added - once again appears likely.