Tevez appeals against his £9.3m pay deduction

Carlos Tevez (left) and Roberto Mancini during happier times (Getty)

Kenny Dalglish has demanded that clubs be allowed to conduct their business in confidence, 48 hours after the leaking of details of Liverpool's exploratory phone call to Manchester City in which the notion of swapping Andy Carroll for Carlos Tevez was broached.

Dalglish refused to discuss if the swap deal had been floated, in a call from Anfield to City's football administrator, Brian Marwood, last Thursday, though he did not deny the conversation had taken place. The Liverpool manager may encourage his director of football, Damien Comolli, to establish fresh contact with City if the possibility arises of a loan deal for the Argentine, in the last day of the transfer window today.

That remains extremely unlikely, though i understands that Tevez lodged an appeal late last night against the City disciplinary action that has cost him £9.3m in salary, bonuses and fines. The appeal will cast the club into at least two more months of disciplinary procedures and make City keener than ever to see Tevez out of the door before the transfer window shuts at 11pm.

Dalglish's demands for privacy reflected inevitable annoyance at Anfield. "We're not talking about any specific incident, but if you are going to do business in any way, shape or form, no matter what life you are in, you don't need to disclose it until it's done," he said. "We're not going to get involved in justifying what people are saying. Get them to justify it, not us"

Milan, who have offered no cash so far, may seek to tempt City with a low cash offer for Tevez before the window closes, in the knowledge that the club badly want the 27-year-old off their books. Milan will be encouraged by Tevez's representatives' decision to appeal to a Premier League independent arbitration panel against the financial sanctions imposed by City, following Tevez's unauthorised departure to Argentina in November. These disciplinary proceedings will drag on until the title run-in.

City's manager, Roberto Mancini (left), did not dispel the idea yesterday that he would have welcomed the chance to discuss a Carroll-Tevez swap. The Italian, speaking two hours before Dalglish, said that he admired Carroll as a player.

"Carroll is a good player, he is young and strong, but it would be difficult and I don't think [it is going to happen]," Mancini said. "There was no phone call to me. I don't know if Brian Marwood was involved. I just read it in the newspaper."