MANCHESTER, England - Carlos Tevez could play for Manchester City again, according to assistant manager David Platt, after the want-away striker's proposed transfer to AC Milan collapsed on Thursday.

The 27-year-old Argentina international has not featured for Premier League leader City since September, having been frozen out by manager Roberto Mancini after refusing to come on as a substitute in a Champions League match at Bayern Munich.

It had been thought that incident had damaged Tevez's relationship with Mancini beyond repair but Platt, speaking to reporters on Friday, said there was still a chance he could representing City again.

"Stranger things have happened," former England midfielder Platt said.

City, three points clear at the top of the Premier League, travel to Wigan on Monday where they will look to bounce back after suffering successive defeats for the first time since 2008.

The holder was knocked out of the FA Cup by United last weekend before a midweek League Cup semifinal first-leg loss to Liverpool.

But Platt insisted City was not cracking under the pressure of expectation.

"No one expected us to continue winning games without having a difficult moment," said Platt. "We can't accelerate the season by four months to see how it is going to turn out.

"But we are still in the Carling (League) Cup semifinal and our players are quite capable of turning the situation around, and 19 clubs would like to be where we are in the championship.

"It is not a bad position to be in some crisis."

Meanwhile, Platt said City expected to have David Silva fit to face Wigan after the Spain winger suffered an ankle injury in the defeat by United that saw him miss the Liverpool clash.

"David did a bit of running yesterday (Thursday) and will do a bit more today (Friday)," said Platt.

"Hopefully he will be back on the training pitch tomorrow (Saturday)."

Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 01/15/2012 page7)