Petrov's frustration and future

The Sunday papers are full of interviews with Martin Petrov, one of the main winners of the Mancini era thus far. He has started all three matches to date, which seems to have soothed his discontent, having been so firmly on the fringes under Mark Hughes. While it is always nice to have happy players, this is particularly important right now: Petrov has only six months left on his contract and so is free to negotiate a Bosman departure in the summer. I'd be sad to leave him City, but I would be distraught to see him join one of our rivals on a free. There are not many Premier League clubs that would turn down the chance to take him in those circumstances.

Petrov talks about his frustration at failing to hold down a regular place in the side despite doing well when called upon:

“But it’s difficult when you play well, score goals, do good and are the best player in the month of October and then spend another three games on the bench. For that, I’m a little bit unhappy — because I think I deserved to play...

“It was difficult because I’ve been away from Bulgaria for 12 years and this is the first time I had the problem that I didn’t play. It was a new situation and maybe I made mistakes because I was too frustrated.”

I can see why he would be frustrated. It's unfortunate for him that he plays in the same position as Craig Bellamy - our best outfield player this season. But it can't have been fun doing as well as he did when selected and still not starting regularly. Petrov admits that he considered leaving in January:

‘I was frustrated with Mark Hughes as the manager and maybe I didn’t handle it very well. For the first time in my life I’d play well then get left out of the team.

‘I would sometimes go home and tell my wife we would have to leave. We were happy as a family in Manchester but my situation was not good at work...

'I was not getting a chance to play when I deserved to. Mark Hughes never explained why.

‘If the manager had not changed, I might have left in January. But in football things can change in one day.'

That change has also involved increased tactical and organisational work on the training ground, which Petrov explains:

“Before [Mancini’s] first game against Stoke, we did a lot of work tactically. I think everyone now knows they must work on the pitch and knows exactly what the manager wants from them, and because of that the team is getting better and better,” Petrov says. “It’s very clear what each individual must do under this manager and I think that’s normal, because he comes from Italy — and you know how it is in Italy with the tactical stuff. We know we have a very good squad with big players but that if you don’t play like a team you can’t win.”

So what of his long term future?

"We have spoken once or twice, my agent and the club," he said. "Nothing significant has happened yet.

"I want to stay if everything runs well. Now is a different situation for me."

I'm very keen that a new deal for Petrov is tied up as soon as possible. A bosman transfer to Spurs or even United would literally ruin my summer.