Source: Daily_Mail
EXCLUSIVE: Don't move yet: Man City may not keep me, warns boss Mancini
Roberto Mancini is not convinced that his spell as Manchester City manager will stretch beyond the summer.[LNB]The Italian is preparing for his first game in charge of the Barclays Premier League club at home to Stoke City on Saturday after taking over from Mark Hughes.[LNB]But sources in Italy have told Sportsmail that the 45-year-old is unsure whether City will retain him next season.[LNB]Mancini has signed a three-and-a-half-year contract at City but there is believed to be a 'break clause' in it that would enable either party to walk away at the end of the current campaign.[LNB]On a sticky wicket: Mancini[LNB]It is understood that Mancini hopes to be in charge of the club for the next few years and that he has been impressed with the set-up and facilities at Eastlands. He would like to see the job of establishing City in Europe as a long-term project.[LNB]Nevertheless, the former Inter manager is aware that he was not the first choice to replace Hughes City also attempted to speak to Guus Hiddink and Jose Mourinho and fears his position could be reviewed if he doesn't get the club into the Champions League places this time round.[LNB]As such he will not even ask his wife to join him in Manchester until next season.[LNB]'Mancini is not sure what the picture will be in the summer so he is not taking anything for granted,' a source in Italy revealed last night.[LNB]'He has said there is no way he is going to move his whole life over to England forsomething that, for all he knows, may last only a few months.[LNB]'He already thinks he would like to stay but at the moment he is not really looking that far beyond the summer.' [LNB]Mancini has been staying in the Lowry Hotel in Manchester city centre in recent days and is expected to remain there for the time being before renting an apartment.[LNB]Even when he does that, though, his wife will not join him. Mancini also has two sons but both are involved in youth football in Italy.[LNB]The Italian yesterday took a double session of training, and will be concerned that striker Emmanuel Adebayor was limping at the end.[LNB] Limping: Adebayor[LNB]He will be boosted by news that central defender Kolo Toure will be available for the game against Stoke in advance of joining the Ivory Coast for the Africa Cup of Nations.[LNB]But he will be without England defender Joleon Lescott, who has just had minor knee surgery, and Nedum Onuoha, who has a calf muscle strain. Shaun Wright-Phillips and Adebayor may also be missing against Stoke.[LNB]Mancini is expected to be a major spender in the transfer window but said: 'The only problems I have are not who we might buy in January, but that we have too many injuries.'[LNB]Meanwhile, as the fall-out from the sacking of Hughes continued yesterday, beleaguered City chief executive Garry Cook revealed that the club had begun to look for alternatives to Hughes as long ago as last summer.[LNB]Cook said: 'It's important for the fans to appreciate the ambitions of this club and its owners.[LNB] Beleaguered: Cook[LNB]'Before the season started we looked at the options open to us if we were in a position when we needed to look for a new manager before Christmas.[LNB]'Even at that point we looked at managers who could be available in a World Cup year and those who might definitely be available.[LNB]'We had no intention of replacing Mark Hughes but surely as a business we are entitle to examine all the options.'[LNB] You're lazy: Roberto Mancini to kick out Manchester City slackersO'Neill and McLeish slam Manchester City's treatment of HughesDefensive crisis deepens for Mancini as Onuoha is ruled out for a monthMancini Sheiks on it: Man City boss met owner weeks before Hughes was axedMANCHESTER CITY FC
