Football
Richard Jolly, ESPN.com writer 9y

Yaya Toure staying at Manchester City, Manuel Pellegrini says

MANCHESTER -- Manuel Pellegrini has said Yaya Toure will stay at Manchester City despite interest from Inter Milan.

Toure's future has been the subject of speculation, with his former City manager Roberto Mancini keen to take him to Inter and suggestions the Premier League champions will listen to offers for the midfielder in the summer.

However, although Toure has failed to replicate his form last season, when he scored 20 Premier League goals, Pellegrini said the 31-year-old plays a pivotal part in his plans and suggested there is an agenda against the Ivorian.

"Yaya is a very important player for our team," he said in a news conference. "Maybe all of you are waiting to criticise him or sacrifice him but Yaya will continue playing here because he is a very important player for me and the squad and for everyone."

City, who have lost six of their last eight games, face West Ham on Sunday with Pellegrini believing that they can recapture their confidence with one good result.

"I hope we will continue scoring goals, that we are not going to make easy mistakes to concede goals," he added. "I hope with one win the trust will recover again."

Pellegrini said the mood in the City camp was affected by their 4-2 derby defeat to Manchester United but feels results have not been a fair reflection of their efforts.

"Always when you lose a game the first days are always difficult and when you lose a derby it is more difficult but I think the players know why we don't have results that we deserve," he said.

"We continue being the team that scores more goals [in the division]. We defended very badly for the four goals we conceded [to United] but we have the fourth [best] defence in the Premier League.

"We are the team that always have the most possession in every game. We have to be clear why we are not having the most results, which mistakes we are making. Two or three balls change the performance of the whole team so it is very important to have the correct diagnostic about the team."

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