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Carlos Tevez: it's all coming up gravy. Eamonn and James Clarke/Eamonn and James Clarke/EMPICS Entertainment

Could Carlos Tevez walk away from City?

Article 15 of FIFA’s statutes give “established professionals” who are receiving little game time the green light to terminate their contracts.

ONLY A DAY after it emerged that intervention by the Professional Footballers’ Association had prevented Manchester City from imposing a fine of four weeks’ wages on striker Carlos Tevez, the club’s disciplinary efforts have been dealt a further blow.

Team manager Robert Mancini declared the Argentine’s career at the Eastlands outfit “finished” after it was alleged that Tevez refused to take to the field during last month’s Champions League fixture with Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich.

In the weeks since the incident, during which Tevez and the Premier League leaders have engaged in protracted and acrimonious disciplinary hearings, the striker has been isolated from his squadmates.

But as the Guardian’s Andy Hunter reports, should the club’s current policy continue, it runs the risk of providing Tevez with a legally-santioned means of escape.

Article 15 of FIFA’s statutes, the laws governing the general practice of professional football, allows established professionals to terminate their contracts in cases deemed to offer “sporting just cause”.

Featuring in fewer than 10% of a club’s matches in any given season automatically qualifies as such an instance.

Tevez has played in five of the City’s matches this season, and with the club likely to play more than 50 games, it looks likely that the Argentine will have to take to the field before season’s end, or risk being lost as a free agent in the summer transfer period.

The club is apparently aware of FIFA’s legal position, but has yet to outline its disciplinary strategy.

Read more on this story in the Guardian>

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