Manuel Pellegrini will STAY at Man City and Yaya Toure is NOT for sale

Posted Tuesday, May 26, 2015 by Express.co.uk

MANUEL PELLEGRINI will stay on as Manchester City manager while Yaya Toure has been told he is not for sale.

Pellegrini arrived in Canada last night for City's post-season tour after informal talks with chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, who flew in from Abu Dhabi to attend the final game of the season against Southampton at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

Although it is understood the talks were not a formal appraisal of the season, there are no indications the club's billionaire owner Sheikh Mansour is planning a change of manager this summer, despite the team's failure to defend their Premier League title and their poor showing in the two domestic cup competitions.

Manuel Pellegrini will STAY at Man City and Yaya Toure is NOT for sale
Manuel Pellegrini and Yaya Toure both look set to stay at the Etihad

After a serious mid-season wobble intensified speculation about Pellegrini's future, City rallied to clinch runners-up spot with six successive wins and finish eight points behind champions Chelsea.

And with no managerial candidate they fancy on the market, City's heirarchy are believed to consider Pellegrini's record of champions and runners-up in his first two seasons in English football good enough to allow him to see out the final season on his three-year contract before they attempt to appoint Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola next summer.

Khaldoon is also understood to have had talks with unsettled midfielder Toure to clarify comments made by his agent Dimitri Seluk, who claimed earlier this month the Ivory Coast midfielder was "90 per cent certain to leave".

Yesterday, however, Seluk performed a U-turn by saying that despite offers from Inter Milan, Paris St Germain and Juventus, City have told Toure - who has two years left on his contract - he is "too important to let go".

Toure is in the City squad to play Toronto tomorrow (Wed) before they move on to the US to play Houston on Thursday. They will then watch sister club New York City in action on Saturday before flying home.

Frank Lampard was left out of the squad to allow him to take a holiday before he joins New York City next month. Also missing are the Argentina trio Sergio Aguero, Martin Demichelis and Pablo Zabaleta, who are all involved in the Copa America next month.