Jovetic the loser in the Bony deal?

Manuel Pellegrini will land himself a selection headache if City’s £27million offer for Wilfried Bony is successful.

The Ivory Coast striker is keen to sign for the Blues, with Champions League football a main attraction.

But if he does arrive in this transfer window it will mean Pellegrini has a tough choice to make when it comes to submitting a revised squad to Uefa on February 3.

Bony’s arrival will mean City have 17 foreign players in their squad, and with Uefa’s financial fair play rap restricting them to 16, it means someone will get the push.

It was a problem that Pellegrini initially faced in the summer, when he had 18 foreign stars – and solved the problem by shipping out Alvaro Negredo and Javi Garcia.

As it stands, City’s 21-man squad is full – they have the maximum 16 foreign stars, the maximum four association-trained players – Joe Hart, Gael Clichy, James Milner and Frank Lampard – and one home-grown player, Dedryck Boyata.

Negredo and Garcia had not convinced Pellegrini he needed them, and the prospect of them bringing in £37million in transfer fees was a big factor.

This time, it is less obvious where the axe will fall, and has led to speculation that a senior first teamer may yet be sold in this window, with some fingers pointing at Stevan Jovetic.

Pellegrini has started to run out of patience with the Montenegrin’s injury record, and with Bony rarely missing games, the man who joined City for £22million in 2013 could be the fall guy on a permanent basis.

It is also likely that Pellegrini feels he could get by in the Champions League with three strikers, as it has become obvious that playing a lone man up front is his best tactic in Europe.

Looking through the squad, it is hard to see where he could trim.

He could bank on Joe Hart’s impeccable injury and suspension record and drop his deputy Willy Caballero, while promoting 20-year-old Ian Lawlor from the elite development squad.

Or he could consider that having Pablo Zabaleta at right back, with Dedryck Boyata – who is the only home-grown player in the 21-man squad - as cover, could be enough, and drop Bacary Sagna.

On the other side, the off-colour Aleks Kolarov could make way, with Gael Clichy covered by Eliaquim Mangala.

City also have excellent full backs in the youth ranks – Angelino, Ashley Smith-Brown and Matthias Bossaerts spring to mind – and as under-21 players, they do not count in the restrictions.

Selling someone, with Jovetic an obvious candidate, would also solve the problem of finding the money for the Bony deal.

If he wants 4 strikers, then I'd drop Sagna. He's pants anyway and we've got Boyata as cover...

Yeah, I'd have to single out Sagna as the one to make way as well.  As injury prone as Jovetic is, he still has something about him that could change a game, which you just can't say about Sagna.

Sagna gives us nothing. At least with Boyata you know he won;t venture upfield.

Sagna was the first name that sprang to my mind too!

I wouldn't be too bothered if Jovetic was shipped out.....he's injury prone and his colour blindness doesn't help.

I'll try that one out Den next time my passes go astray

sagna or the dreadful kolorov for me,zabba is a far better left back
we probably wont win the champions league but we certainly wont with kolorov in the side

Another option is to drop a CB and use toure as cover if needed.