Mancini confident Tevez will stay

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini is growing increasingly confident that Carlos Tevez will stay at the club.

Mancini is hoping the arrival in Manchester of Tevez's family, plus the exciting signings of Sergio Aguero and Samir Nasri, will persuade the Argentinian his immediate future remains with City. The £50million-rated 27-year-old has made no secret of his desire to leave the Etihad Stadium, but City have received no firm interest since the collapse of a proposed move to Brazilian side Corinthians last month.

One of Tevez's main reasons for wanting to leave was to be closer to his family in Argentina, but Mancini hopes that problem has now been solved. The Italian said: "His family is here now. Now that his family is here I think that he can stay."

He added: "I think this is a good moment for this club. Carlos is one of the best players that we have."

Mancini has a fearsome array of attacking talent at his disposal and the latest additions of £38million Aguero and £24million Nasri are expected to make them strong title contenders.

Mancini believes that could also be a decisive factor in keeping Tevez.

"I think so," he said. "He is not fit, he has only worked for two weeks.

"But I think with the good players that arrive in this team - after we won the FA Cup last year - they can try to think next year we can win the title. I think Carlos can play also next year."

Mancini's biggest problem could then become how to accommodate all his attacking players, with the likes of David Silva, Mario Balotelli and Edin Dzeko also to consider.

The Italian joked: "I think we can play with Nasri, Silva, Aguero, Balotelli, Tevez and Dzeko all in the same game!"