Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has once again warned that striker Carlos Tevez will not be sold cheaply.
Tevez returned to Argentina earlier this month without City’s permission and has yet to return to England, just days after he was punished by the club for refusing to warm up at Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
Widespread reports in Italy have linked Tevez with a move to Serie A, with both Milan clubs and Juventus looking into the possibility of signing the 27-year-old, but Mancini said they would have to pay a realistic transfer fee.
“Tevez is strong regardless of what has happened,” Mancini told Rai Due, an Italian television station.
“And great players have a price that is rather high.”
Mancini also denied speculation that City want to sign Edinson Cavani, the attacker from their Champions League rivals Napoli.
City are reportedly interested in the Uruguayan, who they will face on Tuesday, but Mancini said talks were not ongoing.
“The good players are all interesting but there’s nothing. We can’t buy every player,” he said.
Mancini has previous history with Napoli having won there 21 years ago on the way to a Serie A title with Sampdoria.
“It is one of my favourite cities and one of my favourite Italian grounds,” he said.
“It was in Naples, as a player for Sampdoria in the year we won Serie A, that we started our run to the title.”
“It was 4-1 against a team that included Diego Maradona. I scored two and Gianluca Vialli scored the other two.”
“I always found it fantastic to play there because the stadium is big, the pitch is good and atmosphere good.”
Mancini is wary of the attacking prowess that Napoli possess, but he believes his side have improved since their 1-1 draw with the Italians in September.
“In the home game with Napoli we left a lot of space for them to counter attack us and they are fantastic at that,” he said.
“So we know they are dangerous. But we learned a lot from that game. It was our first in the Champions League and we were nervous. I think we have improved since then.”