British media quoted Mancini telling reporters at Valencia airport on Tuesday on the way to their Champions League game at Villarreal that the Argentina striker needed to say sorry for refusing to take instructions during their 2-0 away defeat.
"Sorry is a little word, an easy word," Wednesday's Guardian newspaper reported Mancini as saying. "Everything depends on Carlos. But I think these are easy words - very, very easy.
"If he apologises then everything will be like before. If not, then we look at [selling him in] January. This is what I've told him: all of us can make a mistake.
"The important thing is to apologise and then it's finished. And he can finish it. It is easy. These are crucial words. But these are easy words."
Mancini added this was the reason he had invited Tevez to his house after the Argentine's two-week suspension.
"But this was 20 days ago. It wasn't yesterday. I told Carlos 20 days ago to apologise, and he said no. I don't know his agent [Kia Joorabchian] but I think the people around Carlos are giving him bad advice."
Reflecting on his own career as a player, which involved some controversial moments, Mancini said: "Every time I made a mistake, I apologised, It's a very easy word to say."
Asked if Tevez, who has been fined two weeks' wages by the club, would play for City again if he said sorry, Mancini replied: "We'll see. He needs to do it first."
