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Manuel Pellegrini has claimed Pep Guardiola does not need to rip apart Manchester City’s squad this summer, writes Steve Bates in the Sunday People.

And the Chilean has also ruled out offering the incoming boss any advice when he takes over at the Etihad.

Despite being off the pace in the title race Pellegrini believes reaching the Champions League semi-finals and winning the Capital One Cup shows City still have a powerful squad that doesn’t need wholesale changes by the new Spanish coach.

The outgoing City boss said: “That will be his opinion, which is the ­important thing. For me, next season started in February when the ­announcement was made.

“That is why it was maybe so difficult to finish the season with the players, but why I was so proud of them that they could end it in a good way in the semi-finals of Champions League.

In pictures: Real Madrid 1-0 Manchester City

“We won the Capital One Cup, we continued to improve, so from February this squad deserves a lot of praise.

“I don’t know if this team will change for next year but I am very proud of all of them. City have a very good squad.”

Stars like Yaya Toure, Fernando, Jesus Navas, Aleksandar Kolarov, Eliaquim Mangala, Fabian Delph and Wilfried Bony are all predicted to face the chop under Guardiola but Pellegrini says that would wrong.

“The only player who does not have a contract for next year is Martin Demichelis and for the others they all have contracts and City can decide whether they are important players. For me, all of them are important players.”

Meanwhile, Pellegrini has no plans to offer Guardiola ­advice before he takes over.

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He said: “There will be no contact. He is a manager that knows what he must do, he knows English football. When I came here I didn’t speak to anyone.”

Pellegrini is not going to hang around when Guardiola arrives at City, he is planning to hit the road after his final game – with a whistle-stop tour of Britain’s beauty spots.

Instead of jetting out to his luxury Spanish villa in Marbella to chill out after the game at Swansea, the outgoing City boss has put together a 10-day trip round the UK.

Then the 62-year-old South American coach will sit down and assess his ­options after pledging to get straight back into management – hopefully in the Premier League.

He said: “When I live in a country I always try to learn about the country not just England, the UK as a whole, so I will stay here after the season is over to do something different.”