Jose Mourinho had no issue with Wayne Rooney playing in midfield for England, saying Sam Allardyce can deploy him at left-back so long as the Manchester United captain returns healthy.
No longer the lung-busting striker that burst onto the scene, the 30-year-old ended the season playing in central midfield for Louis van Gaal and Roy Hodgson at Euro 2016.
That experiment seemed to be over when Mourinho restored him to the attack, yet in last weekend's World Cup qualifier against Slovakia he dropped back into midfield.
Allardyce even expressed surprise at how far he went, but his club manager does not mind where he plays for England.
"I am not surprised," Mourinho said. "It's not my problem and if Sam wants to play him at left-back, it is not a problem for me.
"I know what I want from him here, I know how to respect national team managers. The only thing that I want from national team managers is to take care of my boys.
"Don't send me the boys injured, don't send me the boys super tired with a stupid accumulation of work they don't need in that period. This is the only thing.
"Apart from that, what they do from the tactical point of view is not my problem at all, so from me you will never have a word about Wayne and the national team. No problem."
Such duty of care pleased Mourinho over the international break, such as Allardyce sending back Luke Shaw after a slight calf complaint.
That decision means the England left-back is available to face City, so too Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Marouane Fellaini.
"That is what I am saying, I am really happy with that," Mourinho added.
"I am really happy with Mkhitaryan injury, they realised he couldn't play on the Monday and they let him come back to recover for tomorrow which basically he did.
"I am happy with Belgium. They let Fellaini stay for five days and not go for their first game because if they wanted him for the second game, the only chance would be for him to be working with us the way he did.
"In this period, everything went very well for us and the national teams -- except the Argentinian travel agency that could find a better route for the boys."
Marcos Rojo and Sergio Romero were never likely to play a big role in the derby, but their convoluted trip back to Manchester clearly stuck in the craw.
The duo featured for Argentina against Venezuela on Wednesday but took a convoluted route home, much to Mourinho's apparent chagrin -- especially as City duo Nicolas Otamendi and Pablo Zabaleta had direct flights back.
"They are available but Antonio [Valencia] was able to get one flight direct to Madrid and then the connection to London or Manchester is an easy one," the United boss said.
"But Sergio and Marcos, they went around the globe. They played in Venezuela and then they go to Argentina, and then from Argentina they come back to Europe.
"Man City spent the money to bring them in direct flights from Venezuela, or maybe they sent one of the planes from the owner.
"But our boys went to Argentina and from Argentina they come and arrive this morning in time to train."