Roberto Mancini has spoken of his belief that Stephen Ireland will have to "change his head" if the talented but complex midfielder is to resurrect his career at Manchester City.
After a difficult season in which his form has deteriorated and he has found himself increasingly marginalised, Ireland admitted last week that he was seriously contemplating his future at the club, saying there was "a lot of frustration bottled up because I have not played as much as I would have liked".
The former Republic of Ireland international, who effectively retired from international football at the age of 21, is one of the more high-profile players, alongside Craig Bellamy, Roque Santa Cruz and Shaun Wright-Phillips, who could leave City this summer, and has already expressed his frustrations to the club's football administrator, Brian Marwood.
He has also had a separate meeting with Mancini and his representatives will be having talks with the chief executive, Garry Cook, this week before deciding whether to put in an official transfer request.
"I spoke to Stephen two weeks ago but we must speak again soon," said Mancini, who flew today to Abu Dhabi for his end-of-season debrief with the City chairman, Khaldoon al-Mubarak. "I don't know what he is thinking about his future but, for me, Stephen is a fantastic player and if he can change his head I think he can start to play like last season [2008-09] again."
One player set to join City is the 21-year-old Hamburg and Germany defender Jérôme Boateng for £11m, according to Mancini. "We are quite close to signing him," Mancini said. "Boateng is a good player, a young player and strong. He plays for the national team and there is a good chance to get him."
In total, City will listen to offers for up to a dozen players before the start of next season. These include Robinho, who has made it clear he does not want to return to Manchester after moving to Santos on loan, and Martin Petrov, who is out of contract.
Bellamy's relationship with Mancini has deteriorated to the point that Cook visited the player at home a couple of weeks ago to try to pacify him, and the Wales international is attracting interest from Tottenham Hotspur. Wright-Phillips is locked in a contract dispute with the club after demanding a significant pay rise, whereas Santa Cruz has been a major disappointment since his £18m move from Blackburn Rovers.
A player exodus could also involve Nedum Onuoha, Stuart Taylor, Micah Richards, Vladimir Weiss, Sylvinho, Javier Garrido and Benjani Mwaruwari but Mancini has said he would like Patrick Vieira to remain at the club even though the former Arsenal captain has admitted being frustrated with his input since signing from Internazionale in January, initially to the end of the season but with an option for 12 further months.
"It has not gone the way I wanted because I wanted to give more of a contribution," Vieira said. "The manager and the board believed in me and I wanted to repay the trust they had for me. I did right at the end of the season but unfortunately it was maybe a little bit too late. But I would love to stay. When you look at where the club was a few years ago and where the club is now it is really exciting. We need to talk and hopefully we will agree something."
