Mancini dismisses Suarez rumours

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has dismissed reports linking the club with a move for Liverpool's Luis Suarez.

Mancini claims he has no intention of making any additions to his squad in the forthcoming January transfer window. The Italian's comments come after Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers also rubbished suggestions Uruguay striker Suarez could make a £50million switch to the Etihad Stadium.

Mancini, tiring of recurring speculation surrounding the club or his future, said: "It is not true, I don't know. For two weeks we talk about Monaco, after (Pep) Guardiola, after another manager, now Suarez, now Mario (Balotelli)."

He added: "We have a good team and we don't need to buy another player in January. We can't buy Suarez or another player because we have four strikers and Suarez plays for Liverpool."

Mancini was speaking at a regular press conference to preview this weekend's Barclays Premier League clash against Aston Villa. It was the first time he had addressed the full media having missed press conferences before and after last Saturday's game against Tottenham.

First-team coach David Platt spoke on his behalf on those occasions and Mancini joked about that as he walked into the room wearing a mask of the former England international.

"Do you prefer David or me?" he asked, before removing the Platt mask.

Mancini lost his temper after being asked questions about recent reports linking him with Monaco at a press conference last week, but he has clearly not lost his sense of humour.

Mancini also revealed that he dropped striker Balotelli from his squad to face Spurs last weekend because of disappointing performances in training. Balotelli watched the 2-1 win from the stands after not even being included on the bench.

Mancini said: "Mario didn't play because it was my choice. I have 20 players and if there are some players that don't work well, they don't deserve to play. There were other players that worked better than Mario and they deserve to go on the bench."