For sometime now the Carlos Tevez returning to Boca Juniors rumour has been bandied around with little or no apparent substance, and more it seems as a demonstration of his love for the club by Tevez and as a political gesture by Boca’s president. Given the value of the 31-year-old, leading scorer for Serie A champions, Juventus an early return to cash-strapped Argentina appeared out of the question but perhaps this most unlikely of moves is actually going to happen.

Understandably Juventus are keen to retain their star striker for at least another year until his current contract expires. After all, since arriving in June 2013, Tevez has scored 50 goals in 95 appearances and helped Juve to two Scudetto titles, one Supercoppa, one Coppa Italia and a Champions League Final.

However, his desire to return to Buenos Aires and his beloved Boca Juniors has never diminished. The presumption was this would be at the end of his career when he was no longer at the peak of his powers, when his contract had ended and Juve were satisfied that they had got the most from their player. That would obviously not be the case if Tevez does indeed leave Turin this summer, and that is exactly what is being discussed in Chile while ‘El jugador del pueblo’ is on international duty at the Copa América.

Juventus are understood to have sent representatives to Chile to speak with Tevez regarding his future wishes, which had been assumed was remain in Turin or return to Boca. However, amid the uncertainty several other European sides began to circle hoping to take advantage: Diego Simeone spoke glowingly of Tevez and his desire to bring him to Atlético Madrid, Paris St Germain hoped the lure of a last big pay day might tempt him and Liverpool emerged as unlikely candidates to give Tevez a final shot in England.

All these rumours certainly kept the newspapers in print but on Monday afternoon the story gathered pace after Boca president, Daniel Angelici visited Tevez at the Argentina team hotel. After discussions on the possibility of his return to La Bombonera in this transfer window the unofficial word was that Tevez had agreed to the move and all that was left was for the two clubs to agree on the terms.

Angelici told TyC: “I want to be careful regarding the arrival of Carlos to Boca. Juventus must be respected, the club where he has a year remaining on a contract, but I am sure that Tevez will remain at Juve or return to Boca.”

Taken at his word this would end any other interest from other European sides and again this would appear to be substantiated by the unofficial news that Juve would not do business with any club other than Boca.

Since Angelici’s meeting with Tevez, Juventus’ sporting director, Giuseppe Marotta has added fuel to this potential deal by telling reporters that they will respect Tevez’s wishes and that if he would like to return to Argentina then they will negotiate this. Going one step further, Marotta said: “We have the availability that he goes free to his house but not to another European club. We are sure that what will be, will be…it will be to Argentina.” 

In the aftermath of these quotes it is now being confirmed in Italy that Tevez will leave Juventus this summer and be playing for Boca in the second of the 2015 season.

A remarkable story which we await confirmation of from Tevez or the clubs. Argentine football just got a lot more interesting and Boca are going to be a real threat to their Primera rivals.