Does Manuel Pellegrini Have a Future at Manchester City Beyond This Season?

Seven defeats in 14 games have left Manchester City staring down the barrel of a fourth-placed finish. After winning the league last May having scored over a century of goals, this was not what their Abu Dhabi overlords expected from this campaign.

Their defeat on Monday night to a resurgent Crystal Palace may, on the surface, have seemed unfortunate given City’s dominance over the 90 minutes, but it’s the latest chapter in a familiar story. City have dropped points to too many lesser sides this season and it’s well and truly caught up with them.

It leaves the club’s directors with a decision to make regarding the future of Manuel Pellegrini. They continue to insist he remains safe in his job, as reported by Jamie Jackson of the Guardian, but City’s run of results must surely be going against him.

Jamie McDonald/Getty Images

There is, however, a distinct lack of available candidates who guarantee on upgrade on the Chilean. Let’s not forget, this is a manager with a wonderful track record, defined by unprecedented success at both Villarreal and Malaga, as well as the free-flowing league-and-cup winning brilliance he brought to Manchester in his first season in English football.

Pep Guardiola is likely to top the club’s list of managers they would want to succeed Pellegrini, but his contract with Bayern Munich runs until the summer of 2016 and there’s been no suggestion of him breaking it early. He fits the vision of the club, a manager capable of overseeing the first team and taking an interest in the academy over a long-term period, whilst encouraging an attractive style of play, something which remains vitally important to the club’s owners and directors.

And it’s that “long-term” element that seems so vital. City have made no secret of their desire to be a club which invests heavily in youth development, with their £200 million academy complex, opened in December, a clear statement of their intent to produce their own stars. They want to play the same way across all levels of the club, an idea brought to the Etihad by Txiki Begiristain, the club’s sporting director, with a long-term, “holistic” strategy at the heart of the operation. Everything the club are doing is geared towards sustained success in the future.

Which is what makes Carlo Ancelotti, likely to be the only manager available this summer who would be an improvement on Pellegrini, something of a non-starter. His record of three European Cups is remarkable, and there’s no doubt he has a better pedigree than Pellegrini, but his tenures at clubs post-AC Milan have tended to be two years, at best. He would seem like a short-term solution, which is likely to be unappealing to those in charge at City.

The wildcard, of course, is Patrick Vieira, the club’s EDS Manager, and a man highly respected inside the corridors of power at City. His contract is up for renewal and City are unlikely to want to lose him. Is he ready to take the reigns, and, if he’s deemed not to be, will he look elsewhere for a high-profile opportunity? City must tread carefully because Premier League legends with Vieira’s knowledge of the game and ambassadorial image are few and far between.

There are other possible candidates, all of whom have drawbacks. Diego Simeone has done remarkable things at Atletico Madrid, but he has signed a new deal and looks comfortable there. His abrasive personality and lack of English were hardly selling points to the City hierarchy anyway.

Jurgen Klopp has had a difficult campaign with Borussia Dortmund, and Brendan Rodgers remains too confusing in many of his analyses of Liverpool’s performances to be considered in the frame. It's hardly a fertile market for replacements.

From a personal point of view, Sunday’s game with Manchester United is one of the biggest of Pellegrini’s City’s career. His anger at full time on Monday night at Selhurst Park was visible, and he now needs a reaction from his players to help his case for a stay of execution. He is higly regarded by almost everyone at City, but the results, at the moment, are speaking for themselves. He needs three points and a big performance to reassert his authority.

Rob Pollard is Bleacher Report's lead Manchester City correspondent and will be following the club from a Manchester base throughout the 2014-15 season. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter: @RobPollard.