Pep Guardiola says Man City job is not a distraction

When he is replaced as coach by Pep Guardiola at the end of the season, Pellegrini might just have become the most successful manager in the club’s 136-year history.

“It’s important for everyone to know that I knew what was happening and that no one was doing anything behind my back”, Pellegrini told reporters on Friday.

Pellegrini said: “I don’t think we must link both things. I do not understand it but I can live with it”.

Manchester City keeper Joe Hart says everyone at the club is determined to give manager Manuel Pellegrini the best possible send-off by securing as much silverware as possible.

The Telegraph suggests that the Ivory Coast midfielder will exit the Etihad Stadium at the end of the season and could quite possibly be on his way to the ambitious Chinese Super League. “It doesn’t matter what we say”, he added. “People don’t believe my words”.

As well as the inevitable questions about his move to City, Guardiola was also asked about his relationship with his players amid reports of dressing-room tensions at Bayern.

The former coach of rival Borussia Dortmund discussed Guardiola’s future with Manchester City in the EPL in a new interview with the Guardian.

“Us managers get no respect whatsoever in the world”, Guardiola snapped.

It didn’t take long though, before he had to address the subject: “I know it is different, that it has never happened before, a head coach leaving Bayern, normally Bayern leaves the head coach, but we have four months…”

“Maybe every game that we play it will be more hard to continue in all the competitions but I feel that the squad has full commitment to the project so I am very happy about that”.

Guardiola’s appearance followed a tense briefing on Wednesday from Matthias Sammer, where Bayern’s sporting director was strongly critical of media coverage of the club.

“There are respectable papers here that have not asked me a single question on football in these three years”.

“It was the right decision not to give [individual] interviews”.

City remain three points adrift of Leicester, while their hosts are still four points shy of safety, a fact which was not lost on manager Sam Allardyce, whose emotions were decidedly mixed.