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Starsport revealed in November that the Atletico Madrid boss was being lined up by City.

And it is understood that senior figures at the club have been in touch with the Argentine about potentially replacing Pellegrini.

Pellegrini faces a fight to save his job as City's season threatens to slip away from them.

The Premier League champions have fallen seven points behind leaders and face an uphill struggle to retain their title.

To make matters worse Pellegrini's men have crashed out of both domestic cup competitions as a result of shock home defeats.

Pellegrini has managed to lead City into the knockout stages of the Champions League despite being drawn in a group of death alongside Bayern Munich, Roma and CSKA Moscow.

But it now looks like Pellegrini will have to land the biggest club prize of all if he is to avoid the sack at the end of the season.
Chairman Khaldoon-Al-Mubarak set Pellegrini a target of winning five trophies in five seasons when he appointed him Roberto Mancini's successor.
While the former Real Madrid boss landed two in his first season in charge, he is not expected to survive a campaign without adding at least one more piece of silverware to his collection.
Owner Sheikh Mansour is not afraid to wield the axe and has made Simeone his No.1 choice to replace Pellegrini if he decides to make a change.
It is understood the billionaire believes Simeone has better credentials when it comes to winning the Champions League.

Simeone has emerged as one of the most sought-after bosses in Europe following his impressive exploits at Atletico.
He led them to the Spanish title last season to break the dominance of Real Madrid and Barcelona.
He also took Atletico to within seconds of winning the Champions League before Real battled back to claim a 10th European Cup in extra time.
Simeone, 44, who took charge at Atletico in 2011, has let it be known he would relish the chance to manage in the Premier League.
He knows he faces a losing battle to dominate in Spain and has become fed-up with Atletico's constant failure to keep hold of their big name stars.
The former midfielder also knows he can triple his wages at the Etihad to become one of the highest paid bosses in Europe.

Lewis Hamilton’s new Mercedes will break cover on the first day of pre-season testing in Spain next month.

     

Hamilton’s team-mate Nico Rosberg will be first behind the wheel of the W06 car on February 1.
Defending world champion Hamilton gets his first experience of the car he hopes will carry him to a third title on day two and four of the Jerez test.

THE Australian, Malaysian, Chinese, Japanese and Russian races will all start an hour earlier this year for safety reasons in the wake of Jules Bianchi's horror crash at the Japanese GP last year.

    

After Bianchi's life-threatening crash into a mobile crane beside the track at Suzuka, an FIA panel have decreed that no race will start, "less than four hours before either sunset or dusk, except in the case of night races."

Rising British star Jolyon Palmer, the son of former GP racer Jonathan has been handed his F1 break by being named Lotus's reserve driver.

RING king Manny Pacquiao has told Bolton’s Amir Khan “I’ll fight you if Floyd Mayweather Jr is afraid to face me”.

     

The former sparring partners met at London’s famous Fitzroy Lodge Boxing Club and had a chat about a possible fight this summer.
Pacquiao – who also had dinner with Prince Harry on Thursday night – has agreed to face Mayweather on May 2, but the American has yet to put pen to paper on a contract.
The Filipino puncher is growing increasingly frustrated by Mayweather’s delaying tactics on the super fight which was due to be held in Las Vegas.
He has now started considering other options including facing Khan at Wembley Stadium or in America, most likely Las Vegas.
Abu Dhabi was also mooted as a possible venue by the British fighter although that is not believed to be a feasible option at this time.
The pair posed for pictures in London after Khan arrived at the famous gym in a Rolls Royce and dressed in an extravagant suit.
They had a brief chat and renewed their friendship after sharing Freddie Roach’s gym in LA for a number of years before Khan left to team up with California-based trainer Virgil Hunter.

     

Bolton's Khan, 28, also wanted to face Mayweather, but the American faced Marcos Maidana last May when he looked like he would face the Brit.
He hoped back-to-back wins over tough welterweights Luis Collazo and Devon Alexander in 2014 would secure the money-spinning clash .
But Khan has been left frustrated again this year with Pacquiao apparently set to step in for the fight that the sport has been waiting on for more than six years.
Pacquiao, 36, has won world titles in eight different divisions and although he is past his peak, boxing fans were keen to see him face Mayweather.
He agreed to all the demands put forward by the undefeated American’s team.
But he is still waiting on Mayweather to sign his contract as talk of a rematch between the pound-for-pound king and Miguel Cotto grows.
For any fight to take place between Khan and Pacquiao it would take discussions between the Brit’s adviser Al Haymon and Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, who looks after the Filipino ring king.

 

Owen Hargreaves doesn't believe that Manchester United should be looking to sign Mats Hummels from Borussia Dortmund this summer and should concentrate their efforts on going after someone in the mould of ex-captain Nemanja Vidic instead.

The Old Trafford club have been linked with a move for the German World Cup winner for several months, with many fans and pundits seeing him as the solution to all of Louis van Gaal's problems.

However, Hargreaves, who was a Champions League winner with United in 2008, doesn't think things are quite so clear cut.

"He's the captain of Borussia Dortmund, they're last in the Bundesliga. Is that the measuring stick for Manchester United? I'm not so sure."

   


In a Cote d’Ivoire shirt, Wilfried Bony hasn’t been particularly prolific.
He may have racked up enough goals at club level with Vitesse and Swansea City to persuade English Premier League champions Manchester City to part with €35 million, but a return of 11 in 36 international fixtures had left many in his homeland feeling short-changed.
He failed to score in any of the three nip-and-tuck group fixtures which saw the Elephants scrape through to the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations. That stretched his scoreless streak in his nation’s orange colours to six matches.
But against Algeria on Sunday, Bony netted only his second double for Cote d’Ivoire in a 3-1 win to seal a semi-final against DR Congo. His return to scoring form couldn’t have been better timed.
Billed as a clash of the two favourites – of the overwhelming underachievers of the Afcon – it summed up the countries’ wider reputations in the competition that one entered the match as runners-up in their group, the other having squeezed through with a single win.
As a contest, it was everything it was expected to be, but Bony proved to be the difference.
In the build-up to the tournament many had questioned whether Africa had the kind of talent that could push Yaya Toure for future Caf Player of the Year crowns after he won a record fourth successive trophy.

 
Yet a combination of the Manchester City midfielder’s listlessness in Equatorial Guinea and his new club-mate’s timely double suggests that the African public may review their rankings in the near future.
While Cote d’Ivoire largely deserved their win – they were bigger, stronger and, for long spells, simply better – they wouldn’t have managed it but for Bony.
First, he nodded home Max Gradel’s excellent cross midway through the opening period only to see it cancelled out by a comedy piece of defending by Kolo Toure and more notably Max Bailly, which led to Hilal Soudani equalising.
Soudani could have given Algeria the lead soon afterwards but was denied by a wonderful save from Sylvain Gbohouo, and within minutes Bony was at it again. Yaya Toure, with his first memorable moment of the tournament, fired over a pinpoint free-kick from the right and the former Swansea man headed superbly home.
The Elephants’ defence showed signs of crumbling once more late on but just about held it together before Gervinho clinched the win in injury-time. Difficulties in their rearguard signifies that they shouldn’t be considered champions elect just yet, as if they haven’t given enough examples in tournaments past as to why nothing should be taken for granted.
But Cote d’Ivoire are in a fourth semi-final in six attempts, and have a €35m striker back in goalscoring form. Watch out, Africa.

   

Nigeria U-20 forward Taiwo Awoniyi has emerged as the Most Valuable Player of the 2015 Super Four tournament and was rewarded with N200,000 by the League Management Company after helping the Flying Eagles to victory.
Awoniyi pipped the highest goals scorer of the tournament, Christian Obiozor of Kano Pillars whose sublime goals were the highlights of Sai Masugida outing at the pre season tournament to the award.
The Kalmar of Sweden striker scored two goals and provided several assists in his side’s romp to success in the Super Four as his side won four out of the five games played during the competition.
Awoniyi will be hoping to repeat his sterling performance in the 2015 African Youth Championship where Manu Garba’s lads are Nigeria placed in Group A alongside hosts Senegal,Congo and Cote d'Ivoire and will be hoping to emerge champions as well as secure a place in the Fifa World Youth Championship billed for New Zealand.

   

Diego Simeone, in a recent interview, says he would reject all the money in the world if it meant coaching Real Madrid, but his son Giovanni Simeone hinted that his father doesn’t feel that way a certain Italian team.

Giovanni told Italian daily La Gazzetta dell Sport, as quoted by ​AS, that his father has a special place in his heart for Serie A, in particular, the one and only Inter Milan.




  

AMIR KHAN will target a slot on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas on May 2 if the mega-fight is announced this week.

     

Talks for the biggest fight in decades and the richest in boxing history are going well and Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum expects an announcement confirming details in days.

He said: "Everything is moving in the right direction."

Khan, 28, has been calling on American Mayweather to fight him for two years - but once again the Briton looks to have missed out.
Khan met Pac Man, 36, in London two weeks ago about fighting him on May 30 if neither ended up fighting Mayweather, who turns 38 this month.
Attempts to make Mayweather-Pacquiao failed in Christmas 2009 due to a disagreement over drug testing.
But Arum says a deal is now close for the $300million welterweight scrap at the MGM Grand between Mayweather and Pacquiao.

CHELSEA could be in danger of losing Eden Hazard to either Real Madrid or PSG this summer after talks over a new long-term contract stalled.

       

According to reports, the Belgium international could leave the Blues at the end of the season despite manager Jose Mourinho revealing in December that his star player was close to committing his future on a five-year deal.
Hazard, who currently earns £175,000-a-week on a contract which expires in 2017, is looking to become the club's best-paid player after taking the Premier League by storm following his £32million move from Lille in 2012.
Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas are Chelsea's highest earners on £200,000-a-week, but Hazard wants to move into the same bracket as other Premier League super-stars such as Sergio Aguero, Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney, with the latter raking in an astonishing weekly wage of around £300,000

The attacker's demands have subsequently put Real Madrid and PSG on alert, with both clubs keen to add him to their hugely-talented squads.
However, a move to the French capital looks unlikely unless Laurent Blanc manages to offload the likes of Edinson Cavani and Ezequiel Lavezzi this summer, but a big-money switch to Madrid has already been mooted by the Los Blancos hierarchy.
The futures of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale are in doubt, with both linked with returns to the Premier League, and Carlo Ancelotti has earmarked Hazard and Borussia Dortmund's Marco Reus as potential replacements.
Despite the rumours of an exit, Hazard wants to remain at Chelsea, and Mourinho will now press the club to make the winger their most highly-valued player as he looks to lead the Blues to victory over Manchester City in the race for the Premier League title.

CHELSEA are plotting a sensational double swoop for West Ham's Enner Valencia and Shakhtar Donetsk's Douglas Costa as they close in on the signing of Fiorentina star Juan Cuadrado.

The Colombia international is expected to be unveiled as Jose Mourinho's latest signing later today after the Blues agreed to meet his £26.8million release clause.
Misfit winger Mohamed Salah will ship out to Florence on an 18-month loan as part of the deal, whilst Andre Schurrle is on the brink of joining Kevin De Bruyne at Wolfsburg in a £22m switch.
And according to reports, Mourinho is not yet finished in this month's transfer market as he looks to beat Manchester City to the Premier League title.

        

Top of the Portuguese tactician's shopping list is Valencia, who has been a revelation after signing for the Hammers last summer.
The forward is capable of playing either as a striker or out on the wing, and Mourinho is ready to meet Sam Allardyce's £20m valuation.
Another player on the Chelsea radar is Costa, who is keen to join former team-mate Willian at Stamford Bridge.
The tricky playmaker would also command a transfer fee of £20m, and could be set to arrive in west London for a medical as early as this evening.

DIEGO COSTA is a major doubt for Saturday's title showdown with Manchester City after being charged with violent conduct.
    
Oliver has the final say as the rules are different in the Capital One Cup than the Premier League, where a panel of former referees makes the call.

Amazingly, if Oliver had decided both incidents were red card offences, Costa could have been facing a seven-match ban.
Each one would have carried a three-match punishment, but an additional one-match ban would be added as it would represent two red cards.
An FA statement read: "Diego Costa has been charged for violent conduct following an on-field incident which was not seen by the match officials but caught on video.
"The charge is in relation to an incident involving the Chelsea forward and Liverpool's Emre Can which occurred in the 12th minute of the Capital One Cup semi-final second leg at Stamford Bridge.
"The player has until 6pm on Thursday, January 29 2015 to respond to the charge.
"Following a review of an incident during the game involving Costa and Liverpool's Martin Skrtel, The FA will not be taking any further action."
A three-match ban would rule Costa out of matches against Everton and Aston Villa, as well as City. There is no right of appeal.
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, who was fined £25,000 yesterday for claiming there is a campaign against Chelsea, insisted after the game that both stamps were "absolutely accidental".
* City will be without midfield talisman Yaya Toure and new signing Wifried Bony at Stamford Bridge after they helped Ivory Coast qualify for the last eight of the Africa Cup of Nations with a win over Cameroon.

 

West Ham co-owner David Sullivan has reacted angrily to Senegal's complaint to FIFA regarding their decision to field Diafra Sakho in the FA Cup last weekend.




Football chiefs in the West African country are said to be angry enough to demand that the player gets suspended and West Ham are thrown out of the FA Cup following the complaint.

   

The Atletico boss was delighted with the striker's two goals at Santiago Bernabeu and claimed he would not dare suggest his side have an edge over Real Madrid

Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone believes Fernando Torres has gone some way to prove his doubters wrong after his double against Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey.

The striker returned to Atletico this month on loan from AC Milan after a dismal spell with the Rossoneri and Chelsea, and was the hero for his side as his two goals on Thursday ensured a 2-2 draw and 4-2 aggregate win over the European champions.

"The arrival of Fernando Torres is good for us, although some people doubted it," Simeone told reporters after the match. "I'm happy for him and for all the people who came to welcome him at Vicente Calderon.

"We played a good game. We played against the best team in the world. It is normal defending near the box. We played an intelligent game. In the second half we did a very good job."

Madrid have now failed to beat their city rivals since the Champions League final last May, but Simeone claimed he would not dare suggest that Carlo Ancelotti's side have a mental block in the derby.

"We won La Liga last year against two teams that are obliged to win the Champions League and that's very difficult," he added. "I do not think Real Madrid are stuck against Atletico. I wouldn't dare to."

Atletico turn their attentions back to La Liga on Sunday, when they host Granada.

PAUL LAMBERT has pleaded with fed up Aston Villa fans to cancel their protests tomorrow.

Angry supporters are threatening to boycott the first eight minutes against Liverpool - one for every year Randy Lerner has owned the club.
The 82 minutes organisers do plan to watch will also mark 1982, the year Villa won the European Cup.
But under-fire boss Lambert claims their protests will do more harm than good.
He said: “Whoever has planned it, I hope the guy or girl next to them tries to keep them on their seat.
“I understand the fans’ frustrations, but we’ll have a better chance of winning a game of football if they don’t do it and if they stick with the lads, no matter how hard it gets at times.
“I’m hoping they don’t do it. I’m hoping, if the guy in the next seat gets up to go, someone says: ‘Come on, back the team.’

  

“When the stadium is behind the players it’s a great place to play football, and we’ve a better chance of winning if they don’t do it.
“It’s a brilliant support we’ve got, but we need those fans now.”
Fed-up fans have seen their side score just 11 league goals this season in 21 games, the worst record in the top flight.
Supporters turned on Lambert following last Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at bottom side Leicester, while a local newspaper poll claims 67 per cent of fans want him sacked.
Lambert insists he won’t quit though.
“It’s not great,” said Lambert, “I’m human like anybody else, but I’m also big enough and strong enough to handle it.
“I understand the frustration, and nobody is more frustrated than myself.

“Everybody involved with Aston Villa is frustrated at what has happened over the last five or six years since Martin O’Neill left and the team was in the top six.
“Martin had this club buzzing at that time, vying for Europe, going great, and what’s happened has happened.
“But I don’t think you can look at the chairman and say it’s one guy’s fault. It’s unfair. He has the club’s interest at heart.
“The fans have been great with me up until late, and I guess now they are waiting for something to go wrong.
“Anybody that knows me knows I’m not one for downing tools and walking away.
“I’ve never done that in my football career, and I don’t intend to do it now.”