Manuel Pellegrini warns Wenger to Keep his nose out of Manchester City's business

Pellegrini is preparing his Manchester City side for Sunday's Wembley clash[GETTY]

Pellegrini cranked up the stakes for Sunday's Community Shield clash with Arsenal by dismissing Wenger's claim that City 'tapped up' Bacary Sagna and are bending Financial Fair Play rules by acquiring Frank Lampard.

Both right-back Sagna and midfielder Lampard have joined City on free transfers this summer - Lampard on a six-month contract before he joins new MLS club New York City, also owned by City's Abu Dhabi owner Shiek Mansour.

City were fined £49million by UEFA and had their transfer dealings and wages capped for breaching Financial Fair Play rules last season.

But Pellegrini insists everythign is above board and it is no business of Wenger's. He said: "Yes, I am surprised he [Wenger] is talking about us. I think that, as a manager, we have enough problems with our own teams without talking about other teams. The signings of Lampard and Sagna were done correctly.

"We have important restrictions about the amount of money we can spend and the amount of players we can sign from UEFA.

"We didn't spend any money in bringing in Sagna or Lampard because they were 'free' so Financial Fair Play rules do not have any relevance.

"We know exactly what the restrictions of FFP are for us. We have more days [left in the transfer window] to see what is the best for our squad but we will always operate within the rules."

Pellegrini confirmed that City will be without seven players for tomorrow's Wembley clash with the Gunners - and admitted none of them are guaranteed to be ready when they open their defence of the title at Newcastle a week tomorrow.

Argentina trio Sergio Aguero, Martin Demichelis and Pablo Zabaleta plus Fernandinho, Vincent Kompany and Bacary Sagna have all had a delayed start to pre-season training because of their World Cup commitments, while Lampard is also behind schedule, having only joined City last week.

"We will see during next week which of them can be ready for Newcastle," he said.

"But I don't think all will be ready. They are not in the same moment [as the other players] because they only arrived back on Monday. They are having a special pre-season [training programme] this week and next."Striker Aguero is highly unlikely to be risked after suffering more muscle problems in the World Cup.

"Sergio needs a very good pre-season," added Pellegrini.

"That's why for him it is very important to work two or three weeks intensely and then start playing. We hope this year he will not have the injuries he suffered last season."

With Kompany and Demichelis ruled out and Mangala yet to sign, it means City will have to pair either Micah Richards or Javi Garcia alongside Matija Nastasic as their centre-back pairing at Wembley.

Meanwhile, City have completed the signing of Argentina Under-20 international Bruno Zuculini.

The Racing Club midfielder, 21, scored for City in a friendly against Kansas City.