ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE:CARLOS TEVEZ, the striker whose choice of club has come to symbolise Manchester City's ambitions, is in danger of missing the start of the season because of an injury suffered when he slipped in the shower.

Tevez aggravated a heel problem when he lost his balance trying to get out of the shower and has not been able to play a single minute of City’s pre-season programme. He will also miss the club’s warm-up game against Rangers in Glasgow tonight and the club’s manager, Mark Hughes, has appealed for the Argentina head coach, Diego Maradona, not to include him in his squad for a friendly against Russia in Moscow next week.

Hughes says Tevez will be fit for the club’s opening Premier League match, at Blackburn Rovers on Saturday week, but the former Manchester United player has not been able to train properly since moving across the city in a €30 million transfer deal.

The Argentina team doctor has been to Manchester to check on Tevez’ condition and Hughes said: “We don’t think Carlos should play for his international team. We would prefer him to stay back next week. He hasn’t trained all pre-season. He had an injury from his last international and then he banged the same area when he slipped in the shower. He’ll be fine for the start of the season but he’s still not able to put his full weight on it.”

Roque Santa Cruz, the €20 million recruit from Blackburn Rovers, has also had his pre-season disrupted by a tendinitis problem, although City’s extraordinary spending spree does give Hughes ample cover in attack.

Hughes has spent €110 million on what the manager has described as an “exceptional” summer but not everything has gone City’s way. Leeds United revealed yesterday that English football’s biggest spenders had tried to sign Fabian Delph before Aston Villa had a €7 million bid accepted on Monday.

City lodged an offer of the same amount on Saturday but, according to the Leeds chairman, Ken Bates, the club’s English-based hierarchy then had to get ratification from their owners in Abu Dhabi and asked for the talks to be shelved for a week.

“We had accepted an offer from Manchester City on Saturday which they had to go back with to the owner in the Gulf,” Bates said. “Then apparently they needed a week to think about it which surprised us, considering the size of the deal.

“The problem was they might have come back and said ‘No’ and that wouldn’t have been fair to Delph, wouldn’t have been fair to Aston Villa and would have eaten into our season. We went back to Villa and it’s a good decision for Leeds and the player.”

Michael Ballack is set to return to action for Chelsea against Manchester United in the Community Shield on Sunday. The Germany captain has given Chelsea a major boost after returning to training and was due to test his fitness further in a closed-door friendly with Queens Park Rangers yesterday.

Ballack had to return to London a few days into the club’s pre-season tour to America last month because of a fractured toe. The midfielder missed Chelsea’s last four friendly games but has made a swift recovery from the injury.

He missed out on the friendly with Reading at the weekend but joined in with the rest of the squad’s training session as normal on Monday.

Coach Carlo Ancelotti confirmed Ballack is on course to start the Premier League campaign against Hull on August 15th, but could also face United on Sunday.

“For the next match against United he will be ready,” said Ancelotti.

Ancelotti has already identified his starting line-up for the traditional Premier League curtain-raiser against Alex Ferguson’s side.

Chelsea have gone five games unbeaten in pre-season so far and Ancelotti added: “I have more or less the team that will play in my mind. We have this week before the game and I want to control the physical condition of all my players. We have to improve a little over the next week but I’m happy with the condition of the team.”

Meanwhile, Chelsea are set to end their interest in Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery. The French international, who is set to miss the start of the Bundesliga season on Saturday due to a minor knee injury, has been valued at €100 million by the German club and Chelsea are reluctant to meet their demands.

Striker Franco di Santo (20) joined Blackburn on loan until January yesterday in order to provide him with valuable first-team experience before returning to Stamford Bridge ahead of the African Nations’ Cup.

Chelsea will lose Ivory Coast strikers Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou for around six weeks and Di Santo will be required to compensate for their absence. Guardian Service