Manchester City crisis: Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Yaya Toure will lose out on £500,000 if club miss Champions League
City's top players are on incentivised contracts - missing the Champions League will hit them hard in the wallet
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Your support makes all the difference.Manchester City's thrashing by bitter rivals Manchester United this afternoon has done terminal damage to their title hopes - but it could also hit their players heavily in the wallet.
The likes of Sergio Aguero, David Silva, Joe Hart and Yaya Toure are understood to be on incentivised contracts to stay within Financial Fair Play - meaning if City drop out of the Champions League places, they stand to lose as much as £500,000.
City are now four points behind a resurgent United, and could be just a point behind Liverpool by tomorrow night. Brendan Rodgers' side take on a Newcastle side in freefall, knowing that a win would vault them back into the race for the top four.
The club's owners are likely to stick with Manuel Pellegrini beyond the end of this season. Pellegrini's contract comes to an end at the end of the 2015/16 season - coincidentally, Pep Guardiola's contract at Bayern Munich runs out at the same time.
Whether City's expensive underachievers would want to stay were they to miss out on Champions League football - and whether they could attract top players to join or replace them - is another matter entirely.
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