MANCHESTER -- Manuel Pellegrini is considering whether to mark Yaya Toure's birthday next week by giving him a cake as he joked that Manchester City need to learn from the mistakes they made last year.
The midfielder's relations with the club became strained after his agent, Dimitri Seluk, accused City of failing to respect his client by not giving him a cake on his 31st birthday.
City actually did provide a birthday cake, and had footage to prove as much, but while Seluk said on Thursday that Toure is "90 percent" likely to leave the Etihad Stadium this summer, Pellegrini is wondering how to celebrate as the Ivorian turns 32 on Wednesday.
"We will think what is the best thing for him. It is important to learn from the mistakes that you have in the past," the City managed quipped in a news conference.
Pellegrini ignored the outspoken Seluk's interview this week by declaring that he is not answerable to the Russian.
Seluk had claimed three clubs are very interested in Toure, but Pellegrini deflected questions about having showdown talks with the former Barcelona player and his representative.
"I have never answered to Yaya's agent so I will not do it now," he added. "Yaya has a contract here for two years more so in this moment we are only thinking about the best way to finish the season then we will see what happens next season."
Pellegrini feels Seluk's comments will not prove a distraction, explaining: "We are all focused in our team, the players and manager, and what the agent thinks is not my problem."
On Sunday, City face QPR, who probably need to win to stand any chance of staying up, and Pellegrini said he's unsure which tactics they will adopt.
"Maybe in the position they are in in the table, they need to win the three games," Pellegrini explained.
"You have always different ways to try and win the game. Maybe you can go here with two strikers as they did against us in London with [Bobby] Zamora and [Charlie] Austin or they can speculate and try and win the game on counter-attack."