Manuel Pellegrini hopes Sergio Aguero can become as crucial to City as Lionel Messi is to Barcelona.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference on Friday, Kun.

He told press: “First we need to find our own Messi because he makes the difference. I think that the project of this club is to try to improve every year as a club in all senses and every department.

“A lot of people get nervous if  you don’t do it in three, four or five years - but I think this project needs a long time. Every year, you must demonstrate that you are growing and improving.

“We have a very important player in Kun and we have a lot of other good players. Barcelona have not only Messi but Suarez, Neymar, Busquets, Iniesta and Xavi just to begin. For Real Madrid, I can say six good players and for Bayern, it is the same thing.

“I think it’s important for Kun to improve every year and play all the games. He’s growing every year and I hope that he’ll be as important for this team as those players are for those teams.”

Discussing another topic, Pellegrini also insisted it’s difficult to avoid speculation in football, especially at City.

This came after Yaya Toure was again linked with a move away from the Club this week when his agent Dimitri Seluk stated he is ‘90% certain’ the Ivorian will leave the Etihad this summer.

The 61-year-old stated: “It’s impossible not to have speculation about the future.

“I’m not talking just about Yaya - I’m talking about players and managers. It’s very important when you manage a big team to always understand that rumours are involved in your job.”

He continued: “I think the most important thing for my job and all the players involved is just to try to win the last three games to finish as near the top of the table and after that we have a lot of options and we’ll see what is the best option for the players.”

Although Toure is seemingly linked with the exit door every summer, other City stars are not - and the boss believes there is a very simple reason for this.

He mooted: “Maybe it’s because the agents of David Silva and Kun Aguero don’t talk about their players because they have different way to manage their players.

I think Yaya is as important to this team as Silva and Kun so he gets the same treatment from me.

Reacting to Barcelona’s 3-0 win over German champions Bayern Munich on Wednesday night, Pellegrini wasn’t surprised with the manner of victory for the Spanish giants.

He said: “I think what Barcelona did against Bayern was not a surprise for anyone - not for me.

“We tried to play our games against them in the best way. The last game we lost 1-0 and we missed a penalty but it means nothing.

“I said they are the best team in the world and now they are demonstrating that I was not so wrong.”

Finally, Pellegrini has refused to accept Alvaro Negredo’s claims this week he left City because the management team had lost faith in him.

The Chilean stated: “He knows why he didn’t continue here. That was his decision - my decision was to keep him here but he didn’t want to stay.

“It was a personal problem.”