Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini has admitted he has no idea how long he will be able to keep Carlos Tevez at Eastlands.
Reports this week quoted Tevez's representative Kia Joorabchian as claiming the Argentina striker - who netted his 50th goal for City in Sunday's 5-0 FA Cup fourth-round replay victory over Notts County - would be happy to rejoin Brazilian side Corinthians, a move he was confident he could seal for his client within the next couple of years.
Tevez's current deal with City runs until the summer of 2014 and asked if he felt keeping hold of the club captain would be a problem, Mancini said: "I don't know this.
"I'm happy for Carlos because he has scored 50 goals for Manchester City and I hope he can continue to score, but in football it is impossible to know what will happen in the future. I hope Carlos can continue to play here."
Mancini insisted he was not concerned by the speculation and that his focus was on City's remaining fixtures this season, starting with the Europa League last-16 second leg against Aris Salonika on Thursday night.
"At this moment, I am worried only about the game, not about other things," the Italian said.
"I am worried about the championship and the cups. For the moment Carlos is here, he plays for Manchester City.
"He is important, but in the squad there are more than 20 players who are all important.
"It is normal when you have a striker like Carlos, or Mario (Balotelli) or (Edin) Dzeko, that it is important they play. But I don't know what will happen next year."
Ahead of the clash with Greek outfit Aris, with whom they drew 0-0 in the first leg, City have been hit by the news that goalkeeper Shay Given could be out of action for three months with a shoulder injury.
Given is seeing a specialist about the problem today and Mancini expects the Republic of Ireland international will require surgery.
"Shay has this problem in his shoulder and I think he needs three months to recover," Mancini said.
"He has the same injury that he had last year and I think that he needs an operation."
Given also damaged his shoulder in April, which prompted City, whose current first-choice stopper Joe Hart was playing for Birmingham on loan at the time, to sign Marton Fulop on an emergency temporary deal from Sunderland for their final three games of the 2009-10 campaign.
Mancini hopes he will not have to do something similar this time, with Stuart Taylor available as back-up for Hart and the manager considering recalling David Gonzales from his loan spell at Leeds.
Balotelli is fit to play despite suffering a clash of heads in the game at the weekend, while Shaun Wright-Phillips is also in contention again having been sidelined with a back problem.
Micah Richards has picked up what appears to be a calf injury, though, so will not feature and James Milner (hamstring), Nigel de Jong and Adam Johnson (both ankle) remain in the treatment room.
