Carlos Tevez is back at Manchester City after returning from unauthorised leave in his native Argentina.

“He pulled up in his black Hummer about 1645 GMT. A few minutes after the hour-long medical, he stopped at the gates to sign some autographs. I asked him if it was good to be back. He nodded and drove off.”

BBC Radio 5 live reporter Steve Blears at Manchester City’s training ground.

The 28-year-old met a club doctor at City’s training ground on Tuesday for tests to establish his fitness.

Tevez and his family were met by a large media pack at Manchester Airport after arriving from Buenos Aires. The striker has not played since manager Roberto Mancini accused him of refusing to come off the bench against Bayern Munich on 27 September.

Tevez will return to Carrington for training on Wednesday but will not travel with the first team to Portugal for City’s Europa League tie with FC Porto on Thursday.

Manchester City defender Joleon Lescott said on Twitter :

“All the players are excited to have Carlos, Kolo [Toure] and Yaya [Toure] back to help achieve our goal.”

Tevez has not been in Manchester since flying back to South America on 7 November without City’s permission. City fined Tevez £1.2m for refusing to return from Argentina and they have not paid his £200,000-a-week salary since he has been there.

On Monday, Tevez told Argentine broadcaster Fox Sports that Mancini treated him “like a dog” in the incident that sparked their rift.

In the immediate aftermath of the touchline row in Munich, Mancini said Tevez was “finished” at City.

He was linked with moves to Inter Milan, AC Milan and Paris St Germain during the transfer window but nothing materialised. Earlier this month Mancini named the Argentine in their 25-man squad for the remainder of the season.