Yesterday Roberto Mancini insists Craig Bellamy is his "friend" even though he left the Welsh striker out of his first Manchester City starting line-up on Saturday afternoon.
Bellamy was introduced as a second-half substitute at Eastlands as City recorded a 2-0 win over Stoke in their first game since Mancini controversially replaced the sacked Mark Hughes.
A close ally of Hughes, Bellamy is known to be upset at the manner of the dismissal and Harry Redknapp and Arsene Wenger could be launching bids during the January transfer window.
"Bellamy is my friend," said Mancini.
"There is no problem. I spoke with him two days ago. He understood when I told him he wasn't starting.
"We have two games in three days and I need all the players at 100%. Today we played Robinho. It is possible we will play Craig at Wolves on Monday."