The Chilean appears to hold a genuine affection for the club but insisted on Friday that there is no great emotional barrier that will make a summer exit particularly difficult
Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini says he will be not be overly emotional when he leaves the club this summer.
Pellegrini will step aside at the end of June to make way for Pep Guardiola, a fact he revealed earlier this week in a bid to stop constant speculation and to rule out the idea that City were conducting their business behind his back.
The Chilean has rarely opened up about his feelings on City's pursuit of Guardiola and usually refuses to entertain questions from the press about his future, but has on occasion let his guard slip and revealed a genuine affection for the club.
In December, as Guardiola announced he would leave Bayern Munich, Pellegrini told reporters he "loves this club" and that he hoped the Catalan would one day take over.
But speaking on Friday to a packed press conference, he insisted there is no particularly special bond with his employers.
"No, I think that I work here for two years and a half trying to play attractive football, to try to improve on what the club did the other years," he said.
"I think that the fans enjoy that, I am very happy that the club is happy with me but this is a job and you have to think about other things also."
Pellegrini has been linked with both Valencia and Chelsea now that his City exit has been made official, but he once again refused to shed any light on events beyond the current campaign.
He did, however, have a lot to say about the Football Association's decision to play the FA Cup fifth-round clash with Chelsea on Sunday February 21.
Police have ruled out playing the fixture on Saturday - City's preferred option - on the grounds that Chelsea's west London rivals Fulham are playing that day, while the BBC had already arranged their non-football programming for the Friday night after expecting the match to be scheduled on Saturday.
City are due to fly to Kiev for their Champions League last-16 clash on February 22, and Pellegrini wanted the FA Cup clash brought forward to give his squad more time to recover, warning he now has no choice but to play a youthful side.
"It's very easy. We have to play Champions League on Wednesday. We have to travel to Ukraine on Monday. There's no reason why we can't play on Saturday because Chelsea will rest for four days, exactly the same as we want to rest before we play Dynamo.
"I don't know the reason why we have to play on Sunday afternoon. Maybe they have their reasons but my duty is to do for this team what I think is best and if we play on Sunday I think it's better not to play with the 'professional' players."
Pellegrini has routinely played strong teams in domestic cup competitions - and indeed takes his team to Wembley for the League Cup final a week later - and says he would regret having to play an under-strength team.
"Of course, my way is to try and play in every competition with the best team. I think it's a serious competition and not a competition you can throw away.
"But at this moment with so many injured players and the Champions League near and the chance to try and get to the quarter-final for the first time I think it's a case where we are going to prioritise.
"It's not the way that I want to do it but we need to prioritise one competition."
- Goal