MANCHESTER -- Manuel Pellegrini said Manchester City can offer Yaya Toure the new challenge to motivate him to stay at the Etihad Stadium.
, who wants to take him to Inter Milan, in an interview this week.
And the 31-year-old said his decision about his future would be motivated by the challenge a club offers, not the money on offer.
But Pellegrini feels City's quest to create more history can give the former Barcelona player an incentive to remain in England.
"Maybe a new challenge is City also," he said in a news conference. "There are lot of different places you can have it. City also is a challenge and I am sure Yaya is very happy here."
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City have won their first trophy for 35 years and their first league title for 44 years during Toure's five-year stay in Manchester and Pellegrini added: "We have a project here. Every year we are trying to improve."
Toure's outspoken agent Dimitri Seluk said in a separate interview that his client was being used as a scapegoat by City to camouflage their own failings.
He also manager but the Chilean ignored Seluk's comments, saying: "I don't talk about Yaya's agent."
Pellegrini admits he is unsure if James Milner will sign a new contract to stay with City.
The midfielder's current deal expires in the summer and City risk losing a £26 million signing on a free transfer.
Milner has attracted interest from Liverpool and several foreign clubs and Pellegrini, who had stated twice before that he was confident the England international would re-sign, is now unsure.
"I don't know what will happen with James," he added. "He has to make a decision. It depends on what he thinks is better for him in the future."
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