Former Manchester City defender Danny Mills has urged the club to finalise the managerial deal for Mauricio Pellegrini so that he will have time to settle in.

Mills said that the players will need time to understand the Chilean's philosophy and to get used to his tactics before the season starts.

"I think they have to get this done sooner rather than later," he told Sky Sports News. "This has been the worst-kept secret in football. It has been known about, and talked about, for the past six weeks.

"If you are going to have your squad pretty much together as pre-season starts, you all start together and you start that team bonding and that methodology of how you are going to play and how you are going to coach.

"When you start bringing in players towards the end of the transfer window, even two or three games into the start of the season, it makes it very difficult to fit those players into what is almost a settled squad."

There have been reported financial issues, which have delayed the deal.