Manuel Pellegrini is confident Stevan Jovetic will not be a negative influence even though the striker was unhappy when informed of the manager’s decision to drop him from Manchester City’s Champions League squad.
After buying Wilfried Bony from Swansea City for £26m, Pellegrini had to leave one of his overseas players out of his 21-man squad for the knockout stages of the competition owing to Uefa’s financial fair play sanctions against the champions.
While it is understood Jovetic was angry about being excluded, Pellegrini is confident the forward will remain a good influence on the team. “He will be a positive player. For him, it is more important for him not to play all the games but to play as well as he can in the games he plays.”
The Montenegrin had previously said he joined City to play in the Champions League but Pellegrini is insistent the 25-year-old will not be unduly affected. “I said what I have to say about Stevan Jovetic. He continues being a very important player here.
“Maybe if we didn’t have the restriction of FFP, we would not do it. We would have another place but we do have the restrictions and I think he is a good professional and we will see him play in the Premier League I hope in the same way he did at the start of the season.”
The Chilean Pellegrini denied Jovetic may now seek a move in the summer. “No, I don’t think that one thing has a link with the other thing,” he said. “It is very important for Stevan to try to play now until the end of the season to play as much games as he can and not be injured and try to have a high performance every time he plays. After the end of the season, we analyse not only for Stevan, for all the squad who will continue next season.
“It is always difficult to take a player out of the list but we have restrictions this year. We brought Bony because I think that we need another striker, a box player, and in the position of Jovetic maybe we have some other options. It is a difficult decision but I think it was the best for the squad.”
Of the five-point deficit to Chelsea, Pellegrini said: “I [think] that when you have to play 45 points more, you can close the gap, of course you can do it. But is important for our team to try and be near the top of the table as soon as you can and the only thing you can do is to improve your performance, to repeat what we did in December and wait until Chelsea and all the teams drop points. The last two times this team won the title was coming from behind so I suppose we can do it for a third time.”
Samir Nasri and Eliaquim Mangala are both fit again for Saturday’s visit of Hull City. “No injuries – we have the whole squad for the game,” the manager said.
Pellegrini also admitted there is no progress regarding James Milner, whose contract expires in the summer, signing fresh terms. “For the moment no,” he said before claiming this will not be left until the season’s end. “No. I think he will make the correct arrangement here. James is a very important player for our team also. I suppose he will have an arrangement soon. Knowing the way he thinks we will see the same Milner with a contract, without a contract, he is a great professional.”
