- Manchester City's South American stars could miss the start of the season
- Sergio Aguero and his Argentina team-mates will report back next week
- City kick off new campaign against West Brom before facing Chelsea
Manuel
Pellegrini has admitted that Sergio Aguero and Manchester City’s other
South American stars could miss the start of the new season.
City
kick off their Premier League campaign against West Bromwich Albion at
the Hawthorns on August 10 and then face champions Chelsea at the Etihad
in only their second game.
Aguero
and his Argentina team-mates Pablo Zabaleta and Martin Demichelis will
only report back for pre-season training early next week after reaching
the Copa America final, along with Fernandinho whose Brazil side reached
the quarter-finals in Chile.
Striker Sergio Aguero set to miss the start of the season after being away at the Copa America
Pellegrini
is anxious to give all four players a month off in preparation for a
long season even if it means them being unavailable for key games at the
start.
Speaking
on City’s pre-season tour of Australia and Vietnam, he said: ‘I think
in football it’s so important to work hard but also resting has the same
importance. You have so many games throughout the year that if you
don’t give them 30 days after they’ve finished their internationals,
it’s very difficult for them to work hard.
‘It’s
more difficult for the South American players because Pablo Zabaleta,
Martin Demichelis, Sergio Aguero and Fernandinho finished later, the
first days of July, so they won’t have 30 days.
Aguero and his Argentina team-mates will only report back for pre-season training early next week
‘I
think when we return to Manchester they will start their pre-season.
Maybe they will not be involved in the first game but I am sure they
will work hard and will be involved as soon as they can.’
City
have spent more than £60million so far this summer on Raheem Sterling
and Fabian Delph, in addition to promising youngsters Patrick Roberts
and Enes Unal, and are ready to take their investment past the
£100m-mark by signing Kevin De Bruyne from Wolfsburg.
Pellegrini
believes that Sterling and Delph will be key figures in trying to win
back the Premier League title from Chelsea after a disappointing season.
He
added: ‘We’re very pleased. We chose the players because we had a lot
of information about them. One thing is to see those players playing in
their teams every weekend, but when you want to buy a player you must
try to have more information.
Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates scoring for Real Madrid during Friday's 4-1 victory over Manchester City
Ronaldo scored Real Madrid's second goal after prodding the ball past Aleksandar Kolarov
‘We
bought Raheem Sterling and I am sure he will improve a lot. In this
moment he is a very, very good player but I’m sure with our squad –
playing with players like David (Silva), Yaya Toure and Kun (Aguero) –
he will continue improving because he is young. We need his speed in our
team so he will be an important player in the future.
‘We’ve
bought Fabian Delph because we had to replace James Milner and Frank
Lampard, two very good midfielders and it’s not easy to replace them.
‘Fabian
is also a young player, just 25 and in the national squad of England.
He’s left-footed and we needed a player with his characteristics, so I’m
very happy with him also.
New signing Fabian Delph picked up an injury in the 18th minute on his debut against Real Madrid
‘Patrick
Roberts is a young player and we’ll see what happens with him this
year. But this club is not just thinking about this season, it’s
important to look to the future. If Patrick continues his development as
a player he will also be very important player for us.
‘Enes
Unal is also a very young player and he needs some minutes. Maybe it
will be useful to stay for a period with the squad but after to play. As
with Patrick Roberts, we’ll what will happen with his future.
‘I’m
happy because in the last two games (against Melbourne and Roma) we
played with two very young players, Kelechi Iheanacho and Manu Garcia,
both coming from our academy with the development squad. Both of them
will have an important future in our team and bring fresh blood.’
Yaya Toure scores City's goal from the penalty spot after Sergio Ramos handled the ball
Pellegrini
also expects a reaction from the players whose form dipped last season
as City finished empty-handed after winning a Premier League and Capital
One Cup double in his first year at the Etihad.
He
said: ‘I work with the players every day and I’m seeing they are angry
and a little bit wounded because of what happened last season. So I’m
sure that we are going to see a performance again from some players that
maybe last year were not in their best moment. We are going to see them
again as very competitive players and a very competitive team.’
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