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Stevan Jovetic has been dropped from Manchester City's Champions League squad to make way for new signing Wilfried Bony. The Montenegro international forward was the player to make way as City had to omit one of their foreigners from their European party. And the decision to omit Jovetic, who has only started 18 games in 19, injury-hit months at the Etihad Stadium, is likely to prompt suggestions he will leave City in the summer, especially since he told FourFourTwo in October: "One of the reasons for signing with a big club was having the chance to play in the Champions League." As part of their punishment for failing Financial Fair Play, City were only allowed to name 16 senior players who do not qualify as homegrown in their party for European games, whereas they are permitted 17 in their 25-man Premier League squad. City registered 16 for the group stages but the January addition of striker Bony, who joined from Swansea for 25 million pounds, meant they faced an awkward decision. Jovetic, 25, cost City 22 million pounds when he joined from Fiorentina in 2013 but did not feature in the Champions League last season and has not scored in it this. He was linked with Juventus in the January transfer window when City ruled out letting him leave on loan and sources told ESPN FC it would have required a "huge" offer for them to consider selling Jovetic. But the former Partizan Belgrade forward has struggled to convince when playing as a lone attacker while City have plenty of other players -- including David Silva, Yaya Toure and Frank Lampard -- who can play off a striker in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Manager Manuel Pellegrini preferred to select reserve goalkeeper Willy Caballero and out-of-form left-back Aleksandar Kolarov, others who might have missed the cut, when City submitted their squad to UEFA on Feb. 3. Left-back Gael Clichy, who qualifies as homegrown, and centre-back Dedryck Boyata, who is deemed a club-trained player, do not come under the foreign quota. City's 16 foreigners in their squad are: Willy Caballero, Bacary Sagna, Pablo Zabaleta, Vincent Kompany, Martin Demichelis, Eliaquim Mangala, Aleksandar Kolarov, Fernando, Fernandinho, Yaya Toure, Jesus Navas, Samir Nasri, David Silva, Edin Dzeko, Wilfried Bony, Sergio Aguero.
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