Premier League: Manchester City not looking at Swansea's Wilfried Bony, says Manuel Pellegrini
Wednesday 31 December 2014 17:24, UK
Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini has distanced himself from a January move for Swansea striker Wilfried Bony.
City have been short up front during December due to injuries to all three of their senior strikers; Sergio Aguero, Edin Dzeko and Stevan Jovetic.
That led to speculation about Pellegrini adding another striker as soon as the transfer window opens on Saturday but a move for Bony would be complicated by the fact City have no more room to register non-homegrown players in their squad.
Further changes to the squad would therefore be necessary and – with additional European Financial Fair Play restrictions in place – Pellegrini has indicated there is unlikely to be much movement.
I don't think we are going to be too busy in this window.
He said: "I think that is just one of the 20 or 30 names I have read from the beginning of the season until today that we are (supposedly) interested in.
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"I don't think we are going to be too busy in this window.
"We have restrictions about the amount of money and about the number of players we can put in the Champions League, so I don't think it will be a special transfer window for our team.
"We have the option to do it - we will see in the whole month of January what we are going to do about that - but it is not a major concern."
Pellegrini will again be short of out-and-out strikers for Thursday's clash with Sunderland, and he expects it to be another tough game after City were pegged back by struggling Burnley on Sunday.
City beat Sunderland 4-1 away on December 3 but the Black Cats proved troublesome opponents last season and Pellegrini is expecting similar as they visit the Etihad Stadium for a quick Premier League return clash.
He said: "I think it will be a tough game again. It is a team that normally we don't have good results against, when we play against Sunderland.
"Finally this year we won and we hope we will do it also at home. Last year it was one of the postponed games and then when we played it was in a difficult moment, we just drew.
"It is a good team with a good manager, Gustavo Poyet. They know exactly the way they want to play, they have strong players in aerial duels so they are a difficult team.
"But I hope this year we start the new year winning the three points."
