We start today’s round up with a trip to ESPN, who state that Manuel Pellegrini’s side need a big win against Bournemouth to start their run-in to the end of the season.
They believe that a win against the Cherries will give City a huge lift heading into a crucial game against PSG on Wednesday in the Champions League quarter final.
Simon Curtis writes: “This weekend Manchester City hit the long road to Bournemouth as the Premier League resumes once again following the thrills and spills of another international break.
“The home side is almost completely safe already, thanks to the lame form of the four clubs adrift at the foot of the table, while City have by now given up any hope of catching either Leicester or Tottenham at the top.
“However, Pellegrini’s men have plenty to fight for.
“City need forward momentum in the league to help with the push in Europe, too.
“Two Champions League fixtures against Paris Saint-Germain represent a difficult but surmountable hurdle between the club and a long-awaited semi-final berth with the great and good of continental football.
“To boost the chances of success both at the weekend and beyond, Pellegrini will welcome back Kevin de Bruyne and Samir Nasri, both long-term injury casualties this season.”
Moving into the transfer rumours and talkSPORT are reporting that City are one of two Premier League clubs tracking Atletico Madrid defender Jose Gimenez.
They scribe: “The 21-year-old is tipped for a big future by many in Spain and already has over 20 caps for Uruguay.
“Real Madrid have been linked with a sensational £51m bid this summer and Paris Saint-Germain have scouted the centre-back too.
“But, according to Marca, both Chelsea and City are also very interested in trying to land Gimenez this summer.
“The Premier League pair are both in need of defensive reinforcements at the end of the season and have earmarked the Uruguayan as a target.
“Atletico, however, are reluctant to sell and are likely to rebuff any approaches.”
And finally, New York City midfielder Andrea Pirlo believes that City would have to spend a world record transfer fee if they were to sign Paul Pogba from Juventus.
The 36-year old is quoted by the Manchester Evening News as saying: “Of course, Juventus will want to keep him. But sometimes you can get to a transfer fee that you can rebuild an entire team with and he would get to that fee.
“At his age, you can build a team around him for the next years. If he does decide to leave, then I think it will be for a world record.
“I have played with some great young players, but Pogba was the best young player I have ever seen.
“We saw from his first training session with Juventus that he was special. There was a disbelief among the senior players that Manchester United had allowed him to leave.
“Since then he has grown physically and as a player. For me he is now the most complete central midfield player in the world.”
