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From the Guardian: If city can't afford to pay him what he wants then we'd probably have no chance. He'd still be better than anything we have at right midfield mostly because he has some pace but as good as he is going forward he also impressed me defensively when I've seen him this season. Hard to believe he is 28. Shaun Wright-Phillips turns down new Manchester City contract • Winger has seen new arrivals receive bigger salaries • Manchester City are unwilling to meet his wage demands Shaun Wright-Phillips has turned down a new contract with Manchester City and is said not to feel 'appreciated'. Photograph: Jamie McDonald/Getty Images Roberto Mancini's problems with his Manchester City players have extended to Shaun Wright-Phillips after the England international turned down a new contract because he felt he was not being offered enough money, a development that has left the winger starting to begrudge the men in power at Eastlands. Wright-Phillips, 28, will have two years to run on his £60,000-a-week contract at the end of the season but that deal was signed a few weeks before the Abu Dhabi United Group's takeover established a new pay ceiling at the club. This will be the last major contract of Wright-Phillips's career and he wants to take advantage of the immense riches available to the club by moving closer to the higher earners such as Emmanuel Adebayor, Kolo Touré and Carlos Tevez, all of whom earn in excess of £100,000 a week. City have responded by telling him they have no intention of increasing his pay so significantly, on the basis he will be 30 when his contract expires, an age that counts against any player who relies so heavily on pace. There is also a disparity between the length of deal the player is craving and what the club's chief executive, Garry Cook, and football administrator, Brian Marwood, are willing to offer. That has left the Wright-Phillips camp complaining that the City hierarchy seem more interested in rewarding new signings rather than players who have a genuine affinity with the club. Since Wright-Phillips rejoined City from Chelsea 18 months ago he has seen players such as Wayne Bridge, with a weekly salary of £90,000, join on higher wages and is said not to feel "appreciated". In that time he has earned in excess of £4.5m. Mancini has not been involved in the negotiations but the dispute can be added to a number of problems for the City manager, ranging from Patrick Vieira's poor form and discipline to the much-publicised argument with Craig Bellamy and growing concerns about Stephen *Ireland's level of performance. After winning his first four games Mancini's management style has come into question with only two wins from seven games going into tomorrow's FA Cup fifth-round replay at Stoke City, and the Italian is acutely aware that his team's last hope of silverware is in jeopardy. "Mentally the players must be strong," he said. "We must try to play football when we can but if that is not possible we must play the ball in the air and jump and fight for every ball and concentrate at set pieces." Tevez has been in Argentina for 10 days after the premature birth of his daughter and will not be involved against Stoke, but Mancini said the club's leading scorer would be back in time to play Chelsea on Saturday. "He had a serious problem but now I think he has resolved this problem and it's important that he comes back."