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| Pellegrini will not respond to injuries by dippind into the January transfer market |
MANUEL PELLEGRINI says he is not planning to raid the transfer market for a new striker in January despite the injury problems suffered by Sergio Aguero and Wilfried Bony.
Aguero and Bony have both had lengthy spells out this season leaving City short of options up front.
But Pellegrini believes he has enough back up fire power in Raheem Sterling, youngster Kelechi Iheanacho and Kevin De Bruyne to cope with the burden of being the only club still involved in all four competitions.
“Am I looking to sign new players in January? No, for the moment, nothing changes,” he said. “Why? Because we have a squad that we think is the best squad for what we require. I don’t think we need to make changes so we continue the same way with Wilfried, with Kun, with Sterling and with Kelechi.
Pellegrini is pinning his hopes, in particular, on Sterling’s improving his goals output.
The midweek double that sparked City's comeback win over Borusssia Monchengladbach and secured pole position in their Champions League group, took Sterling's tally to eight – only three behind his personal best of 11 last season with former club Liverpool.
But Pellegrini says there is much more to come from his £49m signing, who only turned 21 this week and who is still learning his trade.
“He is a very good player already but it is important to remember he is only just 21,” he said. “He has a lot of years ahead of him to improve. In the way he is doing, I think he will we will see he will improve year by year.
“Raheem has worked very well from the first day here to now. Maybe he plays different games – one better another not so good - but that is the same with every player. The most important thing is for him to work every day with important players like David Silva, Aguero and Yaya Toure and improve.
“We expected what Raheem is doing at the moment but I think he must continue improving every year. There must be more things to improve, especially his finishing. He cannot be a player who scores just 11 goals as he did last season. I hope in the future he will finish better, be involved in more goals and take better solutions [in the penalty area].
“He is not just a striker. But one of his targets is to improve the amount of goals he scores every season. We are talking about a player who has just turned 21 years old so I think it is normal he will improve in the next years,”
The good news for City is that Aguero could be back for the showdown with title rivals Arsenal a week on Monday.
The Argentina striker will miss tomorrow’s home clash with manager-less Swansea but should be back in training next week and providing he does not suffer any setbacks he could be in contention for the trip to the Emirates.
Pellegrini said: “Aguero is improving but he will not be ready for this weekend. I hope next week he will start working with the squad Tuesday or Wednesday. We play on Monday against Arsenal so we hope he will be fit for that game.”
Pellegrini also hopes skipper Vincent Kompany, who has been troubled by a calf injury for two months, and Pablo Zabaleta will be back in training next week.
He added: “We hope Vincent and Pablo can both start working with the squad next week as well.”
Martin Demichelis is fit after missing the midweek game but Fernando and long-term casualty Samir Nasri are still out.
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