Football rumors have emerged that Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola had ordered to put to stop contract extension negotiations for three of his players as he wants them to "prove themselves" this season before talks resume.
The Sun indicated that the 45-year-old Spanish mentor has told defenders Bacary Sagna, Gael Clichy, and Pablo Zabaleta to "prove themselves in his new style of play to get new contracts" next season, which put to a halt all extension negotiations between the club and the three players.
All three defenders are already on the wrong side of 30 which may be the reason why Guardiola has not sold the future of City on the backfield trio. The report also noted that the club believes "they have youngsters who can replace them next season" and so any contract extensions is not a priority at the moment.
Sagna, Clichy, and Zabaleta all have expiring contracts due next summer and Guardiola is said to be ready to offload them in a free transfer, but will give them a chance to fight for their spot this season.
A source inside the Etihad said that "they are all over the age of 30 and with youngsters Pablo Maffeo and Angelino also knocking on the first-team door, City are biding their time (to release them)".
The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss had already made known that he can snub anyone in City's current roster as he loaned out decade-long goalkeeping stalwart Joe Hart to Italian Serie A club Torino and had also "frozen out" veteran midfielder Yaya Touré from any fixture so far this season.
The 33-year-old Sagna was acquired by City in the summer of 2014 from Arsenal and had played 63 games so far for the Manchester outfit. Clichy, 31, also came from the Gunners in the summer of 2011 and had featured in 164 games.
Meanwhile, the 31-year-old Zabaleta is the longest-tenured of the three, being with the Citizens for eight seasons already, and starting his ninth this term, appearing in a total of 303 games in all competitions.
Caught Offside noted that the three defenders "have been at City for a significant period of time" as regular starters at midfield and are now "made to adapt to new roles which see them take up positions as holding midfielders off the ball".