Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez is being courted by glamorous French club AS Monaco, according to the Mirror. The ultra-rich club are backed by Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev and have spent over £30m since being relegated to the French second division - Ligue 2 - in 2011.

Carlos Tevez
Reuters

However, if the rest of the season progresses as expected, the Monegasque club will make a winning return to Ligue 1 in the summer; they lead their division by three points with only a handful of games to go. And once they return to the top flight, Argentine international Tevez is expected to be the first of several marquee signings.

The 29-year-old Tevez has been in the news for both good and bad reasons in the past week. First, he was arrested for an alleged driving offence, ahead of the weekend's FA Cup tie against Barnsley. He was released on bail, made available to play against the Championship side and promptly scored a hat-trick to lead a 5-0 rout.

Monaco, who have fallen from a glorious run to the 2004 Champions League final (they were beaten by Jose Mourinho's FC Porto but claimed the scalp of Spanish champions Real Madrid that year), were earlier also linked to David Beckham. The 37-year-old eventually joined Paris St Germain (PSG), leaving Rybolovlev to search for another big-name signing.

Tevez may be available in the summer, given reports the Premier League champions are planning a summer clear-out. The striker has had a good season with the club so far - nine goals and seven assists from 24 league appearances - but has cast doubt over his City future by admitting a desire to return home to Argentina. His contract with City runs to the summer of 2014.

Roberto Mancini may have quite the problem in the summer. City had four strikers at the start of the season. The number dropped to three in January, after Italy international Mario Balotelli moved to AC Milan. The ex-Inter Milan manager then hinted that Bosnian forward Edin Dzeko could also leave the club, which, if true, would leave him with the Argentine pair of Tevez and Sergio Agüero.

And if Tevez does indeed leave, then he will have only 20-year-old Swede John Guidetti to provide competition and cover for main man Agüero. That could change though, with reports linking the club to Radamel Falcao and Edinson Cavani.

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