Manuel Pellegrini hits back over criticism of Yaya Toure

Xavi – a key part of Guardiola’s hugely successful four-year tenure at Camp Nou – says the Premier League and the wider football world could have cause for excitement.

The former Barcelona coach had been highly sought after and it had been claimed Manchester United wanted him at Old Trafford.

Should Mourinho end up at United next season he would go head-to-head with his old adversary Pep Guardiola, the pair having faced off during their spells at Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively.

But Pellegrini does not believe Toure has taken his eye off the ball and is adamant the Ivory Coast worldwide still has so much left to give City – or another club in the future.

“No, he didn’t ask me to join him on his way to Manchester City”, he continued, laughing.

“He has received a lot of criticism because maybe this season he doesn’t score the 20 goals he scored the first season I was here but we must not be unfair”.

The former City striker then identified Iheanacho’s humility as one of the factors which could shoot him to an even more meteoric rise under Guardiola’s management. Wolfsburg’s Swiss player Ricardo Rodriguez will be known to Guardiola and could provide a better alternative. “Basically, if it were not for him, I would not be here”.

The two giants of Italian and German football will play each other on February 23 and March 16 for a Last 16 Champions League round.

“I remember when Pep was at Barcelona, he got rid of Yaya Toure to bring a young Sergio Busquets in”.

“The fans, the media, the people don’t know what went on behind closed doors at Chelsea and what caused the problems they had when he was in charge”.

“I’ve played up front on my own and throughout my career and it’s really hard”. And on top of that the results haven’t been coming, so you get the situation as it is at Manchester United. Both managers are apparently looking at Inter though they want different players.