Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini, has expressed his sadness about the imminent departure of Yaya Toure, to the Africa Cup of Nations next month.
The Ivorian midfielder is likely to leave before the Premier League champions face Everton on January 10.
“Happy? No,” Pellegrini stated at a news conference. “You always want to retain the best players here but you know the rules.
“He will go around Jan. 5-10. We are not exactly sure of the dates. I think he will play in the FA Cup and then go in the second week of January.
“I think maybe the FA Cup game will be the last one. They start playing on different dates, the teams in the African Cup of Nations, so we will see.
“I think with every club, you know at the start of the season what will happen. You have FIFA dates, African Cup of Nations, American cups. You can prepare the season knowing those things and you can do it in the way you think is best.”
The Chilean tactician is however ready to turn to former Chelsea man Frank Lampard, who is on loan from New York City FC and has netted six times since joining.
“One of the reasons we asked him to play here was because we knew Yaya would be leaving us to go to the African Cup of Nations,” he said.
City are yet to announce if Lampard will remain in Manchester and Pellegrini added: “I’m confident he’ll stay but I can’t say 100 percent because it doesn’t depend just on me.
“It’s not so easy because Frank is a New York City player. He’s only on loan until December so we must respect the other people.”
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