Sergio Aguero ruled out of Manchester Derby

Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini has revealed that striker Sergio Aguero will not be fit to face fierce rivals Manchester United on Tuesday, reports Sky Sports.

The Argentina international suffered a hamstring injury during City’s Champions League defeat to Barcelona last week but was expected to return in time to face David Moyes’ side at Old Trafford.

However, speaking ahead this weekend’s home fixture against Fulham the Chilean manager has admitted a realistic come back date for the forward is next Saturday’s clash with Arsenal.

“We don’t know yet, but maybe next week he will start working with the squad.

“I don’t think the whole week, maybe at the end of the week he can be with the squad starting training. For United? No, no chance,” he declared.

The news is a huge blow for City, who have missed Aguero’s presence in some of the biggest games of the season, as they look to close the gap to league leaders Chelsea.

Although summer signing Stevan Jovetic has recovered to bolster their options ahead of the Manchester derby, the fitness of long term absentee, centre-back Matija Nastasic, is now a concern for Pellegrini.

“He has at least a couple more weeks to recover.

“Of course we are concerned because the doctor doesn’t know what happened with him.

“He made all the exams that he needs but we don’t know what happened with him.

“We are taking other opinions. The doctor is in charge of that. The player feels a pain inside the knee but nobody knows what the pain is,” insisted Pellegrini.