City players aim to give beloved Pellegrini silver-lined send-off

City have tried to play the “Barcelona way”, with an attractive passing style and attacking approach favoured by Guardiola, and enticed two former BarAa executives Ferran Soriano and Txiki Beguiristain to the board in 2012.

The Chilean led City to the Premier League title in his first season at the club, and has succeeded in making the Abu Dhabi-owned side an established fixture in the latter stages of the Champions League.

Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola resumed discussions with Manchester City “in May or June” previous year over becoming their new manager.

Renowned for his powerful set pieces and swinging crosses, Kolarov has been linked with a move away from England for the past couple of years, with the belief that his age will soon be a detriment against him.

Allardyce said: “It’s the most disappointed I have been since I have been here with the result ending up the way it is because we deserved so much more”.

Refresh this transfer rumour! “I do not understand it but I can live with it”.

Guardiola was reluctant to talk further about City ahead of Bayern’s trip to in-form Bayer Leverkusen, but he was keen to temper any doubts that his future job would detract from focus on his current one. Pellegrini may yet leave this summer as City’s most successful manager.

City now have a brief period of calm after a run of nine games in 32 days since the turn of the year before they host leaders Leicester on Saturday in a fixture which could see them leapfrog Claudio Ranieri’s men.

“He still had enough in the locker and, in fact, I heard Stuart’s comments and Stuart did in fact offer him a deal”.

England team-mate Hart said: “He’s a top player and he’s really on top of his game at the moment, but we have got the same and we’ll look forward to the challenge”. There are media outlets here in Germany that haven’t asked me a single question about football since I got here. “I always feel the commitment of all the players to our project”.

The announcement has captured the excitement of the Premier League, but it might have had a negative impact on his authority at Bayern, now that this players know he won’t be there next season. Journalists must know why they are here. “We back him, we love him as our manager”.