Former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola has accentuated that he is happy to play Russian Roulette over the future of Yaya Toure and other out-of-contract Manchester City players.
The Premier League club have not yet offered new deals to Yaya Toure, Pablo Zabaleta, Bacary Sagna, Jesus Navas, Gael Clichy and Willy Caballero and all their contacts are due to expire in the summer.
And now Manchetser City’s director of football Txiki Begiristain and manager Pep Guardiola have decided against opening talks over new contracts for the players until the end of the season.
And this also means that the out-of-contract players can now search for potential suitors and can leave on free transfers in the summer transfer window and Manchester City would be left helpless – without any opportunity to cash in on their departing stars.
And despite chances of losing them on free transfers, Guardiola has now challenged them all to show why they deserve to stay at Manchester City.
Guardiola said: “Am I comfortable taking the risk? Yes.”
“I don’t speak with the agents, I speak with Txiki Begiristain. So I don’t know if they speak, maybe they can speak because the agents job is to do that.”
“We’ll make a decision at the end of the season. They have to try to keep going, to convince me every day.”
“There are five, six players out of contract but they know the situation.”
“Of course there is a risk, maybe they can sign a contract for another club and we have to accept that. But we are going to decide in the last months of the season.”
In the meantime, skipper Vincent Kompany has regained match fitness following a leg injury and it is believed that he will now find a place in the first-team for the trip to Sunderland on Monday.
And now Guardiola hopes that the Belgian defender will be available for the rest of the season as the title race heads towards the last phase.
He said: “It must not be easy for Vincent, I understand completely, because what happened was in the training session, it was nothing, it was not serious.”
“He’s in the last process, on Thursday he trained with us, his first training session, he’s ready to come back.”
“Since the last injury [at Palace] he was one month, a month and a half, fit. Of course he didn’t play because it was my decision but he was fit.”
“Hopefully he’ll help us in the last two to three months of the season.”