Nolito denies he is frustrated with life at Man City

Nolito has denied suggestions he is unhappy with a lack of playing time at Manchester City.

The forward played the full 90 minutes as City drew 1-1 with Celtic in their final Champions League group game on Tuesday and afterwards faced constant questioning about his current mood, having been left out of the squad for Saturday’s game against Chelsea.

The Spaniard signed for City for £13.8 million in the summer and has been rotated in and out of the side by coach Pep Guardiola in recent weeks, and his admission that it was nice to be back in action led to an exchange about his true feelings.

"After more than a week without playing, I'm very happy to have started,” he told reporters. "Although there wasn't anything at stake in this game, it was still a Champions League game and everyone likes to play in this competition.

"It was important for us not to take the foot off the pedal. It's a pity that we didn't take the three points but we must think about Saturday's game [at Leicester City] which will be difficult and complicated."

Before the Chelsea clash the 30-year-old had started both league games at Crystal Palace and Burnley, but was left on the bench against Borussia Monchengladbach.

It was put to the former Celta man that he would be unhappy with his relative lack of minutes in recent weeks, but he brushed aside the enquiry.

“No, honestly, it’s a Champions League game... at the end of the day it’s a game, we try to do as well as possible, and now we’re focusing on the game on Saturday, as I said it’s a difficult game, we don’t have many days to recover, but we’ll try to get the points to keep going forwards."

But it was then suggested that Nolito, in his heart of hearts, must be frustrated with his playing situation.

“Sincerely, I’m very happy,” he continued. “Coming to a team like this I knew how difficult it would be to play in such a competitive team, with very good players.

“The manager is rotating, sometimes he plays one player, another time he’ll play another, and honestly, right now, I’m very happy, honestly. From a selfish standpoint, of course I would like to play in every game but in the end, all the Premier League and Champions League matches are demanding, very physical, and the coach is doing well to rotate the squad. The manager is the one who decides and I’ll be ready for him when he needs me.”