Carlos Tevez faces the possibility of having to return to Manchester City against his wishes, after his proposed £40m move to Corinthians disintegrated because of the financial implications for the Brazilian club.

Tevez is now running out of potential new employers following the official announcement from Corinthians that it was "impossible" for them to conclude what would have been by far the biggest transfer in the history of Brazilian football before Wednesday night's transfer deadline.

"While acknowledging the efforts of Manchester City, and everyone involved in the negotiations, there wasn't enough time for the transfer to be completed," a Corinthians statement said. "We are aware our fans wanted Tevez to join our club again and we hope we can have the player with us in the future"

City had accepted Corinthians' valuation of the player, with another £4m in potential add-ons, but the deal first ran into trouble because they could not agree a payment schedule that was acceptable to both parties.

City had made certain allowances to help facilitate the move, not least lowering their original £50m asking price, but their suspicion over the last few days has been that Corinthians had badly overstretched themselves. The Brazilians' previous transfer record was £9.35m, when they first signed Tevez as a 20-year-old from Boca Juniors in 2004, and they were heavily reliant on sponsorship money to bring the player back to São Paulo. In the end, they were unable even to afford the first payment of £8.7m, asking City if they could delay settling it until next year.

City had been willing to accept four different payments over four years but Corinthians were also unable to provide the bank assurances that the FA Cup winners regarded as fundamental to signing off the deal. In the process, the saga of Tevez's future will drag on once again.

One possibility is that City, negotiating with Atlético Madrid for Sergio Agüero, will offer Tevez to Internazionale in exchange for Wesley Sneijder. That, however, is not something that has got off the ground yet, and instead the collapse of the Corinthians deal leaves Tevez with the other scenario of being required to return to City for the start of the new season and resuming life in Manchester, the city he has openly admitted disliking.

As for Agüero, the chances of that move happening have been strengthened by Atlético's capture of the Deportivo La Coruña striker Adrián López to take the Argentine's place.