Zabaleta pondering Manchester City future

Pablo Zabaleta concedes his eight-year association with Manchester City could come to an end following this season.

The 31-year-old Argentina right-back has won every major honour in English football during his time at the Etihad Stadium, while becoming a much-celebrated cult hero with the City fanbase.

But medial knee ligament problems have played their part in restricting Zabaleta to 10 Premier League appearances this term, where he has regularly found himself behind Bacary Sagna in the pecking order on the right-hand side of defence for Manuel Pellegrini’s side.

Zabaleta has high praise for his team-mate but, having entered English seasons on the back of runs to the World Cup and Copa America finals over the past two years, he believes the time will come to assess his options ahead of Argentina’s campaign at the forthcoming Copa America Centenario.

The former Espanyol player, who started Saturday’s impressive 3-0 victory at Chelsea, also has only one more year to run on his current contract with City and knows a period of upheaval could follow Pep Guardiola’s much-anticipated arrival as manager.

“He [Sagna] has been outstanding this season,” Zabaleta told Sky Sports News. “I’m so glad for him because he’s a great lad, a great player and also he’s given me a chance to have some rest thinking about the future.

“I have just one more year here [on my contract] and we’ll see what happens at the end of the season. We expect big changes at the club with a new manager coming in.

“Probably at the end of the season, we have to sit down with the club and decide what will happen,” he added.

“My only concern is just thinking about another big tournament in the summer and coming back probably without rest and without pre-season.

“The best thing for me is just be focused on trying to finish this season in the best way. All the players will have to hear from the new manager and what his new ideas are for next season.”