Tevez can pen final page of Mancunian odyssey

After five years as Mancunian football's most divisive figure, with 99 games in red and 100 in blue, Carlos Tevez might just be ready to say 'Farewell to Manchester' with his most memorable contribution yet on Monday night.

The one-time red devil who is now City's bad angel, he has been adored and loathed by red and blue alike and confessed to being sick of a place with "only two restaurants" and where "it rains all the time" since arriving at Manchester United from West Ham in August 2007.

As City prepare to face United in a title decider tomorrow (Monday) at the Etihad Stadium, Tevez's output of four goals in three outings since returning to Roberto Mancini's starting XI two-and-a-half weeks ago ensures he will claim centre stage in Manchester's 163rd derby. But despite Tevez's return to form and favour, and even though Mancini yesterday offered him an olive branch, it is likely to be his last appearance in a game now described by City captain Vincent Kompany as "second only to Real Madrid versus Barcelona". Tevez's City future is the elephant in the room at the Etihad. Wary of another spat between club and player, what happens next after his sheepish return from three months AWOL in Buenos Aires is the subject nobody will discuss.

Yet three months after seeing AC Milan pull out of their attempt to sign him due to the pounds 28?million asking price, the 28 year-old is now a prized target once again. He will not be short of offers this summer and City, with eyes on Robin van Persie, Edinson Cavani, Fernando Llorente and Borussia Dortmund's Robert Lewandowski, will do business if the price is right.

If, or when, Tevez goes, he will leave Manchester as one of the city's most iconic football figures. Like it or not, Tevez has earned his place alongside George Best, Denis Law, Bobby Charlton and Colin Bell, Francis Lee and Mike Summerbee in Manchester's hall of fame. Tevez embodies the Mancunian divide, but what will he leave behind as his parting gift? As this title decider looms into view, there is an inescapable sense that the final chapter in Tevez's Mancunian odyssey is about to written.

Picture the scene. It is 0-0, the clock is ticking down to the final five minutes and City need the goal that could transform them from also-rans into champions.

Thirty-eight years after Law's back-heeled goal for City which coincided with United's relegation, would you bet against Tevez scoring the goal which ultimately signals the shifting in the balance of power from red to blue?

For all of the trouble and strife he has generated - the messy divorce from United, the bust-ups with Mancini, the demands to leave - there have been highs. Two titles and a European Cup with United, an FA Cup as City captain and 90 goals in five years.

But he remains an enigma. Throughout his five years in Manchester, few have been able to fathom out the real Carlos Tevez.

This is the man whose generosity once saw him treat low-level staff at City's training ground to 42-inch plasma televisions at the end of his first season at the club, but the flip side of Tevez is the story told by a United employee who recalls the forward dismissively tossing an expensive watch in her direction as he trooped past following a sponsorship launch at Old Trafford.

On the pitch, he is a dervish, committed to the end, yet an unconvincing trainer and problem child when it comes to him and Mancini. At times, it would have been no surprise to see them pitch up on The Jeremy Kyle Show.

Mancini admits, however, that pragmatism influenced his move to backtrack on his assertion that Tevez was "finished" following his defiance in Munich and the Italian insists that restoring him to the team has been correct.

"I had no problem in forgiving him," Mancini said. "Club officials never forced me to do anything - to bring him back was a logical choice, given that he was not sold in the January transfer window. As he is a player of great quality, one of the best strikers in the world, I thought that he could lend a hand." But with this game set to decide who wins the title, did Ferguson actually lend City a greater hand by passing up the chance to keep Tevez three years ago? Such is the mystery which still surrounds his defection in the summer of 2009, estimates of the full extent of City's outlay for him range from pounds 32?million-pounds 47?million, depending on your point of view.

United, having an option to sign him for pounds 25.5?million at the end of his two-year loan arrangement, declined to complete the deal, with chief executive David Gill calling the cost of the package "a bit toppy". City, desperate for an impact signing following Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan's takeover the previous September, happily agreed to pay him pounds 198,000 a week and the deal was done.

Then came the 'Welcome to Manchester' poster, which riled Ferguson so much he dismissed City as a "small club with a small mentality", setting in motion a war of words centred around Tevez which has barely abated. He has been the man who gave the noisy neighbours their voice. Tomorrow, only a fool would bet against him having the final say.