No decision on Toure future until end of season

Manchester City will make no decision on the futures of Yaya Toure, Pablo Zabaleta, Bacary Sagna, Fernandinho, Jesus Navas and Willy Caballero until their Champions League and Premier League challenges are over.

All six of these players have contracts that expire in summer 2017, but because City are in the Champions League semifinals, where they face Real Madrid in next Tuesday’s first leg, and are third in the league on 60 points with qualification for next season’s Champions League not yet guaranteed, Txiki Begiristain, the sporting director, will wait until City’s campaign is effectively over.

The situation is compounded by Pep Guardiola, who replaces Manuel Pellegrini on July 1, still leading Bayern Munich’s own Champions League and Bundesliga challenges. So any input the Spaniard has on whether any of the players should be offered fresh deals will also have to wait until Bayern’s season is over.

Hanging fire

Despite Toure’s erratic agent, Dimitri Seluk, recently claiming the midfielder would pay off his remaining 12 months so he could leave in the summer, no decision has been made on whether the Ivorian will leave.

Toure is 33 next month and while City would countenance a serious offer, the midfielder could yet remain. Zabaleta, 31, is City’s third longest serving player, behind Joe Hart and Vincent Kompany, after joining in August 2008.

The right-back, who is particularly popular among fans, is conscious his future will not be resolved until the end of the term. He said: “I have just one more year on my contract here and we’ll see what happens at the end of the season. We expect big changes at the club with a new manager coming in.”

Zabaleta acknowledged that Sagna has dislodged him as first-choice. “Bacary has been outstanding this season, I’m so glad for him because he’s a great lad, a great player,” the Argentinian said. “Also he’s given me a chance to have some rest thinking about the future.”

While Toure joined in July 2010, Navas and Fernandinho signed in June 2013, Sagna in June 2014, and Caballero the following month.