Inter Milan will lead the chase for Yaya Toure and Pablo Zabaleta if they become part of a Manchester City clear-out when Pep Guardiola takes over this summer.
Zabaleta revealed after last weekend’s defeat by Leicester that the players expect changes once Guardiola moves from Bayern Munich to replace Manuel Pellegrini.
Both players were in City’s title-winning side of 2012 under Roberto Mancini, now manager at Inter and who made no secret of his desire to sign Toure last summer. The Ivorian, 32, is unsettled by the prospect of working under Guardiola, who offloaded him from Barcelona to City for £24million in 2010.
Mancini is also interested in 31-year-old Zabaleta, who will be out of contract in 2017.
City are ready to back Guardiola with massive investment and the other players thought to be under threat include Martin Demichelis, Aleksandar Kolarov, Fernando and Gael Clichy.
Goalkeeper Joe Hart has praised Pellegrini for ‘taking control of the situation’ by revealing that he will leave at the end of the season.
Although there is a concern it could derail City’s push for trophies on four fronts, Hart believes it was the right time to end the speculation.
‘It’s something that’s been buzzing around the club for years,’ he told BT Sport.
‘Ever since Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano came in as technical directors, there was always that strong link with Barcelona and with Pep Guardiola,’ he added.
‘It will be sad to see him (Pellegrini) go but it will be a new chapter for the club. That’s next season. This season we’ve got Manuel as our manager and we’ll fight for him all the way.’ – Daily Mail