Manuel Pellegrini has confirmed that he is likely to manage Manchester City next season.

The Chilean is leaving his position at Malaga next week, and has been touted as the favourite to replace sacked Roberto Mancini at the Etihad.

Pellegrini has now stated that he has a verbal agreement to take the reins at City, but that the deal must still be put in writing.

"I have a verbal agreement with them [City] and hopefully that can become official,"Pellegrini told Spanish radio station El Primer Toque.

"I have always liked challenges and I am very excited by this project," he added.

"The idea is to build a project at all levels. The chance to construct an infrastructure is as important to me as simply turning up at a team that has a chance of winning things. For me, the objective is not just titles."

Admitting that he was courted by teams in Italy and France as well, Pellegrini has already started to refer to City as ‘we’.

He says he understands the system that he will be working within at the club, and accepts the demands that will be asked of him.

And the eloquent 59-year-old is confident of succeeding in the Premier League, suggesting that City are already a strong enough team to achieve their sporting objectives.

"City have a great team, a great squad and they have people who are very clear about where they want to go and how the club should develop," he said.

"[David] Silva is the kind of player that makes the difference. We will have a squad that can play very good football. I am sure we will play attractive football"