The striker is still residing in his home in Argentina and is adamant that he will not return to play football in the English Premier League, with City very open to allowing the 27-year-old to talk to the Serie A champions.

However, Mancini will only let the former Manchester United man, who AC Milan are particularly keen to sign, go permanently and not on a loan deal.

"I hope we can find a good solution for us and Carlos," Mancini told reporters.

"We want Carlos to come back and play football and the best solution for us is to sell him. We can't let him leave on loan."

The Italian revealed that City need to start recouping some of the extraordinary fees they have had to spend to bring in their array of talent to the Etihad Stadium, and said it is only fair that teams pay the going rate.

"When Manchester City buy a player, they have to pay a lot of money," he said.

"But when we want to sell them, they have to go on loan. This is not good. It is not correct for the other players."

"Manchester City paid Carlos a lot of money for three years. It is correct that if one club, it could be Milan, Juventus, PSG, Inter, want him, they pay Carlos for his value. This is correct."

Mancini's men have a league meeting with Stoke City on Wednesday, and Mancini is wary of the threat Tony Pulis' side presents.

"Stoke is a very difficult team, it'll be a tough game. They have won their last four games," Mancini said.

"I think (Wednesday) will be hard. Also, because we are playing every three days. For this reason I think (Wednesday) we should play a good game, we should try to play football very well because against Stoke it will be a hard game."