MANCHESTER CITY’S relationship with Carlos Tevez has deteriorated to the point that the club are not convinced the striker will attend his own disciplinary hearing today, to explain why he flew to Argentina last week without permission.

Tevez has been summoned to the hearing, at which he will face a club-record fine if he fails to convince City he had sufficient grounds to return to Buenos Aires during the international break, when he was under orders to stay in Manchester and work on his fitness. However, City are not taking anything for granted and have held in-house discussions with the club’s lawyers, in case their former captain fails to show.

That possibility remains clear, such is the fracture in the relationship between club and player. City have decided not to make any comment until they know how far the Argentinian is going to take his latest dispute. Tevez’s advisers would not confirm whether or not he had made plans to fly back.

Tevez’s defence is that he tried on numerous occasions to contact the City manager, Roberto Mancini, before abandoning his training regime and flying to Argentina, where he told reporters on his arrival that he wanted “a rest”.

City’s version of events is markedly different and the club have compiled a dossier of evidence that indicates Tevez was given explicit instructions to remain in Manchester.

For the striker to have apparently ignored those wishes puts him in danger of the maximum three-week fine permissible under the English Professional Footballers’ Association guidelines, which would be around €875,000.

The maximum is usually two weeks but is extended because Tevez has recently been fined and disciplined because of his non-appearance against Bayern Munich, when City lost 2-0 in the Champions League in September.