Pep Guardiola has pushed contract talks with six out-of-contract players to one side and told them to prove that they deserve a new deal at Manchester City.
The Citizens are expected to be in for a busy summer, as Guardiola has been told to overhaul the ageing squad and instead instil his own fresh ideas at the Etihad Stadium.
Long-serving defender Pablo Zabaleta is among those to see his current terms expire at the end of the campaign, along with Yaya Toure, Gael Clichy, Bacary Sagna, Jesus Navas and Wilfredo Caballero.
Guardiola has no intention of beginning discussions with any of those aforementioned players, however, and will instead wait until the summer before deciding who stays and who goes.
"We'll make the decision at the end of the season," he told reporters. "They have to try to keep going, to convince me every day. There are six players out of contract but they know the situation.
"Of course there is a risk, maybe they can sign a contract for another club and we have to accept that. But we are going to decide in the last months of the season.
"I don't know [if they are talking to other clubs] because I don't speak with the agents, I speak with Txiki Begiristain so I don't know if they speak, maybe they can speak because the agent's job is to do that."
England Under-19s defender Tosin Adarabioyo is one of the exceptions to the rule, though, as Guardiola is said to have offered the youngster a new contract.
Daniel Lewis
