Pellegrini keen on Premier League stay

Slated to be replaced by Bayern Munich boss Pep Guardiola this summer, current Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has admitted that he'd like to remain in the English top flight once his tenure at the Etihad is done.

With eight matches left in the Premier League season, and the club in a relative tailspin courtesy of a slew of injuries and poor form, the Chilean gaffer has one eye already on next season.

The highly decorated Pellegrini concedes that when deciding on his next job, he won't limit his options to only include other high profile and resourceful teams like Manchester City.

"It depends on the mentality of the manager," he said. "I always remember when I finished with Real Madrid, I had a lot of different options and I chose Malaga because the project was interesting.

"It doesn't matter which club you are going to, whether it's a big or a small team, it depends on the project of the club and what they want to develop at the club and the players you can bring to the club."

Table toppers Leicester City has proved this season that riches don't necessarily equate to success, as both they and second-place Tottenham feature squads and payrolls that pale in comparison to the league's usual suspects.

Heavyweights like Chelsea, Manchester United, and Liverpool all sit on the outside of the top-four looking in, and City sit perilously close to missing out on the continent's marquee competition with a slim one-point advantage on fifth-place West Ham.

These successes and mediocre campaigns for the league's elite, paired with the lucrative incoming television deal, makes managerial positions in the Premier League that were once undesired, desirable again.

"With the new rights from the TV deal you have more money and all the teams here in England can pick good players.

"There are a lot of interesting things here in England because all the clubs have money to have a good project, so surely a lot of managers will be interested in a lot of clubs."

Pellegrini and his lot's next match is April 2 when they visit Bournemouth, followed by a midweek trip to Paris Saint-Germain for the first leg of a Champions League quarter-final tilt with the French champions.