Manchester City, who were bought by Sheikh Mansour's Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008, have been the Premier League's highest spenders in the transfer market in recent years.

But new financial fair-play rules have been introduced in a bid to curtail the spending of clubs like City and Pellegrini, who on Wednesday spoke to the media for the first time since he was appointed as Roberto Mancini's successor, seemed to suggest a slight departure from that policy in the long term.