The Daily Telegraph is reporting that the relationship between Joyce and the club's star signing, Tim Cahill, have “reached breaking point”.

It follows Cahill’s post World Cup qualification bombshell, that he may to look elsewhere for regular football ahead of Russia 2018.

Amid the tension, criticism than Joyce failed to contact Cahill about his ankle injury while the 37-year-old was away on Socceroos duty.The veteran attacker picked up the injury in his first start for City earlier this month.

However, the Telegraph is reporting that the rift began well before that, when Cahill was benched for the FFA Cup clash with Sydney FC following the Socceroos' qualifier in Japan.

Cahill was not in the line-up for City’s away match to Brisbane Roar on Friday as the Melbourne outfit looked to reclaim top spot on the A-League ladder.

Speaking with Fox Sports pre-game Joyce was diplomatic: “Timmy is unavailable, he got injured playing for the Socceroos … It’s a great achievement to go to another World Cup, particularly if Timmy can score because that will put up there with some greats.

“We hope we can play our part in helping him achieve that.”

Cahill celebrates Australia's qualification triumph against Honduras

Football pundit John Kosmina said he understood why the City Boss declined to contact Cahill during the two-legged intercontinental playoff against Honduras which saw the Socceroos clinch their fourth straight World Cup appearance.

“From a coach’s perspective I can see Warren Joyce’s point,” Kosmina said.

“I wouldn’t want to bother a player in camp. I don’t think it’s an issue that needs to be beaten up. You can’t build your team around one player and Timmy has been out of the picture for the first few rounds.”

Fellow commentator Andy Harper said the controversy was "not going to go away".

"Warren Joyce looks sidelined by the breaking (story). I don’t quite know how the club deals with this because you’re talking about a senior player, a charismatic player who’s a massive name in the game."

Harper added it was a difficult situation to manage, particularly now it had become public.

"Melbourne City have started the season well and a coach wouldn’t want to tinker with that with all these disruptions," he said.