Nasri : Pellegrini would be a `good fit` for Manchester City

                                         

London: The Frenchman would welcome the arrival of the Chilean and is aiming to stay at the club and mount challenges for the Premier League and Champions League next season.

Samir Nasri believes Malaga coach Manuel Pellegrini would be a good fit for Manchester City as he looks to cement his place in the first team at the Etihad Stadium.

The Chilean is the No.1 candidate to replace Roberto Mancini, and he is likely to bring playmaker Isco with him to the Etihad Stadium.

But while Nasri was unwilling to talk about transfer targets, he does believe Pellegrini, who guided Villarreal to the Champions League semi-finals in 2005-06 and was seconds away from repeating the feat with Malaga this season, would be a shrewd appointment.

"The club is going to let us know as soon as they sign someone, but for the moment it`s just talk," said Nasri.

"If it is [Pellegrini], it`s a good fit. In the Champions League, he`s always had success with Villarreal or Malaga. The way his teams play, it`s always attractive and that`s what we need at Manchester City."

Nasri was rumoured to have fallen out with former City boss Roberto Mancini after the Italian criticised his player in public, but he admitted that his departure was "sad".

"It`s a bit difficult, but this season we had big expectations," he added. "We didn`t achieve anything. We just qualified for the Champions League.

"It was Mancini who brought me to Manchester City, so it`s sad. But that`s football. Before I was at Manchester City, when I was at Marseille, I had five different managers... that`s football."

And the 25-year-old stated his desire to stay at Eastlands, despite recent links to French champions Paris Saint-Germain.


"Yeah, of course [I would like to stay]," he continued. "You know [the rumours], that`s just talk. In Paris now, you have new owners and they just won a title in France, so the media will talk about it. But I`m really happy in Manchester. I`m looking forward to next season."

Thinking ahead to 2013-14, the former Arsenal man is hoping for a title challenge and more luck in the Champions League, following two successive exits at the group stage.

"Next year we won`t have any excuses," Nasri concluded. "At some points, we had a lack of experience. We can have all of the talent in the world but you can`t buy experience."

"To be honest, we were unlucky two times with the [Champions League] draw. In the group stage, to play [Borussia] Dortmund and Real Madrid is a bit difficult. But a team like Manchester City should expect to go on to the finals of the Champions League. I hope that next year, we are going to do it."

Nasri staying with City

Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri insists he wants to stay at the Etihad Stadium.

The France international had been linked with a move to Paris Saint-Germain but says he has no plans to leave.

Nasri endured something of a fractious relationship with former boss Roberto Mancini and is now keen to make his mark under the new manager.

He told Sky Sports News: "It is not true, it is rubbish. They just talk.

"The director of PSG (Leonardo) said maybe he wants to buy some French players and said my name. He is someone I have known for a long time from when he was at Inter Milan.

"I want to stay in Manchester, I don't want to leave, it is just talk."

Edinson Cavani and Isco are Manchester City's £50m gift to Manuel Pellegrini

MANCHESTER CITY are set to give new boss Manuel Pellegrini a £50million welcome present by landing their two top summer transfer targets, Edinson Cavani and Isco.

Edinson Cavani could swap clubs with Edin Dzeko

The appointment of Pellegrini from Malaga will not be formalised until early next month, but he has given chief executive Ferran Soriano and sporting director Txiki Begiristain the green light to press ahead with deals for Cavani and Isco.

Former boss Roberto Mancini was fiercely critical of City’s “slow” transfer strategy last summer when he missed out on his three top targets, Robin van Persie, Javi Martinez and Eden Hazard, and the club ended up rushing through the last-minute signings of Scott Sinclair and Maicon.

This time City have been working on deals for Napoli striker Cavani and attacking midfi elder Isco – one of Pellegrini’s players at Malaga – for several months and are now understood to be close to securing their targets.

In a bid to stave off competition from Chelsea, they had more talks with Napoli yesterday over a cash-plus-player swap deal for striker Cavani, with Edin Dzeko moving in the other direction.

Cavani, who had been a long-term target for Mancini, has a £50m release clause in his contract, but with Dzeko rated at around £20m, City are hopeful of landing the Uruguay international for around £30m.

Isco could follow Manuel Pellegrini to Manchester City

I said go to City and take the chance to negotiate over Dzeko and see what they are willing to do for Cavani

Napoli’s film producer president Aurelio De Laurentiis

Napoli’s film producer president Aurelio De Laurentiis denied he had flown to England to appoint Rafa Benitez as the club’s new coach following the departure of Walter Mazzarri, but confirmed he has sent his sporting director Riccardo Bigon to have talks with City to conclude a deal for Cavani.

He said: “I did not go to London for Benitez. I was there with [managing director] Andrea Chiavelli and Bigon and for a simple reason – I have to prepare for the release of the film about Steve Jobs.

“However, I told Bigon, ‘Go to City and take the chance to negotiate over Dzeko and see what they are willing to do for Cavani’.”

Carlos Tevez’s own future is also uncertain. He has only a year left on his deal and City are likely to sell him if they land Cavani, Isco and another target, Brazilian midfielder Fernandinho from Shakthar Donetsk.

According to reports in Spain, City have offered Malaga the £17m that would trigger the release clause in Isco’s contract. City’s young Spaniard Denis Suarez could also be part of the deal.

Gael Clichy is the first City player to speak out after Roberto Mancini's sacking

Gael Clichy became the first player to break ranks and speak after Mancini’s dismissal, insisting the former manager can have no complaints just a year after winning the Premier League title.

Clichy was speaking at a Manchester City visit to Staten Island in New York, where City have donated football equipment to a local community group helping the island recover from Hurricane Sandy.

“He’s the manager and you have to take responsibility. The manager is there to make the choices,” said Clichy.

“Of course, when results are good it’s all down to the manager. When the results are not so good, it’s also down to him.

“We have to be aware that he was probably at fault for this but, as players on the pitch, we also have to take responsibility and know that we did not perform, whether we played three, four or six at the back.”

City are certainly moving forward globally. They have announced a ground-breaking deal with baseball giants New York Yankees to create a 20th MLS club.

The deal, which could grow to around £500m, will see the newly-formed New York City FC join the league in 2015 in a new stadium in the football-mad area of Queens and rival the existing New Jersey-based Red Bulls.

City will be wearing a new Nike kit in their two exhibition games against Chelsea in the US this week.

Nike have renegotiated City’s £6m-a-year, 10-year deal with Umbro – now owned by Nike – which was signed in 2009. Nike will now pay City £12m a year for the next six years and the improved deal will help City’s bid to comply with UEFA’s financial fair play regulations.

Manchester City transfer targets: Six La Liga players Manuel Pellegrini could bring to the Etihad

Could Isco, Gonzalo Higuain and Fabio Coentrao be on the new City boss's summer shopping list?

With Malaga coach Manuel Pellegrini set to take over from Roberto Mancini at Manchester City, we asked La Liga expert David Cartlidge to pinpoint some of the Spain-based players the new boss might want to bring with him.

Roberto Mancini was sacked on Monday night, just two days after his side were beaten 1-0 in the FA Cup Final by Wigan.

The team had already conceded the Premier League title to rivals Manchester United.

Pellegrini is widely expected to take the job, and his current club Malaga have now confirmed he will leave at the end of the season, paving the way for his to take the reigns at the Etihad.

Here are six players David thinks might well be following him to Manchester.

Isco
Malaga
Attacking Midfield
21-years-old

With David Silva's injury problems this season contributing to his stuttering form, it’s time some of the playmaking burden was taken off him.

Isco is an ideal solution to the creative side of City’s game, and the bonus is that Pellegrini knows the 20-year-old inside out from his time at Malaga.

The player's maturity is in large part thanks to Pellegrini, as he allowed him freedom in a creative sense but also taught him discipline and maturity in terms of his moves into central areas.

Isco, like his countryman Silva, is blessed with an abundance of technique, ability in tight areas, swift changes of direction and excellent vision of the game. He can be played on the left side of midfield, but with that license to cut in and work behind the attack between the lines.

Let’s not forget how much Pellegrini loves a playmaker - see exhibit A: D'Alessandro, Riquelme - so there is no reason why Isco couldn’t coexist with Silva.

Gonzalo Higuain

Real Madrid
Striker
25-years-old

Rumours of Gonzalo Higuain’s departure from Real Madrid come around every summer and it appears this could be the season it finally happens.

Pellegrini’s a huge fan of mobile forwards, and while City have one in the shape of Sergio Aguero another in Higuain would be a huge bonus.

This Argentinean comes without the off-field baggage of Carlos Tevez, but can still provide the same monstrous effort on the field. Higuain has the ability to pull players away from key defensive positions, and also hold the ball up, lay-off the ball and player either back to goal or in behind. Not to mention he can finish too.

Higuain’s never truly been loved in Spain’s capital, but after a few games the City fans would want to throw their arms around the industrious 25-year-old - if Arsenal don't get to him first.

Geoffrey Kondogbia

Sevilla
Central / box-to-box midfielder
20-years-old

A revelation this season, Geoffrey Kondogbia could have already been in the Premier League. The Frenchman was at one point close to a move to Reading, but the club decided after a few scouting trips he wasn’t up to much. How they must regret that now!

The Frenchman has been in outstanding form for a struggling Sevilla outfit, and has brought all his physical capabilities to the table.

He sits alongside another deep midfielder and can quite easily form a double pivot but also emerge forward with powerful runs.

His decision making around the penalty area needs vast improvement but what he can provide is energy and impact in the engine room. It would be excellent for his development to work alongside Yaya Toure.

Miranda or Diego Godin

Atlético Madrid
Centre backs
28 and 27 respectively
Both have been integral features of the imperious Atlético Madrid defence this season, and both would represent a dependable presence in terms of defensive rotation.

Vincent Kompany and Matija Nastasi will undoubtedly be the first choice pairing but rather than splash out big for another centre-back, Miranda or Godin would be content to rotate and won’t break the budget.

Miranda’s been a sensation since arriving on a free transfer and is quick across the ground, strong, positionally aware and does the basics well.

Godin has attracted interest before from the Premier League and played over 70 games with Pellegrini at Villarreal, so the bonus is the Chilean knows him very well. The Uruguayan is excellent in the air, clears his lines swiftly and is physically commanding too.

Fabio Coentrao

Real Madrid
Left-back
25-years-old

Another - along with departing boss Jose Mourinho - who could soon see the exit door at Real Madrid, Coentrao’s a player City looked at before and know well. They might have to look again given how much he’d suit a Pellegrini system.

Joan Capdevila was an important part of Villarreal’s defence under Pellegrini making over 80 appearances with the Chilean at the helm, and his galloping up and down the left flank was a vital feature of the side.

With Pellegrini often liking his wide players to cut inside it leaves space in the channels to run into, few full-backs are better when it comes to attacking forays than Coentrao.

The Portuguese could form a perfect tandem with an inside cutting Isco, as he places emphasis on attack foremost.

Coentrao’s defending has improved vastly as well, and especially so in the big games he’s offered dependable, error-free displays.

Check out all the latest News, Sport & Celeb gossip at Mirror.co.uk http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/isco-gonzalo-higuain-fabio-coentrao-1890364#ixzz2U0Z3zPgh
Follow us: @DailyMirror on Twitter | DailyMirror on Facebook