Zabaleta casts doubt over Man City future

Two knee injuries have disrupted Zabaleta's season and have limited the 31-year-old to 20 appearances in all competitions this season, while Sagna has cemented his place in the first-team during the Argentinian's absence.

(Reuters)

Zabaleta also suspects there will be changes when new manager Pep Guardiola, currently at German champions Bayern Munich, arrives during the close season.

"He (Sagna) has been outstanding this season. 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," Zabaleta told Sky Sports.

"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."

Manuel Pellegrini's men, who are third in the Premier League, travel to face relegation-threatened Newcastle United at St James' Park on Tuesday night.

(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Gareth Jones)