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Man City's Manuel Pellegrini: 'Yaya Toure, James Milner weren't saying goodbye'

Man City boss Manuel Pellegrini insists that Yaya Toure and James Milner weren't saying "goodbye" to the fans when they were subbed during the final game of the season.

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has insisted that he did not substitute Yaya Toure and James Milner to give the players the opportunity to say goodbye to the fans.

Toure is rumoured to be considering a summer departure from the Etihad Stadium, while Liverpool and Arsenal have been linked to Milner, who is out of contract in June.

Speculation over the players' futures intensified when Pellegrini took them off the pitch during the second half of City's final game of the Premier League season, which ended in a 2-0 win over Southampton.

"I think the only player who was saying goodbye was [Frank] Lampard," Pellegrini told reporters. "Yaya was returning in the last game after an injury of 15 days, he was very tired and couldn't finish the last game too. I didn't want to give him a muscle injury.

"Milner had a kick on his knee which is why he couldn't finish the game. We'll see, not only for those two, in the future who will stay here or not, but [to let them say goodbye] was not the reason why I changed them."

City finished second in the table, eight points behind champions Chelsea.

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Manchester City's Chilean manager Manuel Pellegrini watches the action during the English Premier League football match between West Ham United and Manchester City at Upton Park in London on February 11, 2014
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Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool119112161528
2Manchester CityMan City117222213923
3Chelsea115422113819
4Arsenal115421812619
5Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest115421510519
6Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton115421915419
7Fulham115331613318
8Newcastle UnitedNewcastle115331311218
9Aston Villa115331717018
10Tottenham HotspurSpurs1151523131016
11Brentford115152222016
12Bournemouth114341515015
13Manchester UnitedMan Utd114341212015
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham113351319-612
15Leicester CityLeicester112451421-710
16Everton112451017-710
17Ipswich TownIpswich111551222-108
18Crystal Palace11146815-77
19Wolverhampton WanderersWolves111371627-116
20Southampton11119721-144


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