Arsenal are after the big guns - Sterling and Mahrez on their wish list

Even though they have the Champions League final tonight, the non-footballing sections of Manchester City the rest of the operations at Etihad can not stop.

Transfer plans are being created and scouts are working restlessly so that Pep Guardiola can have a team worthy of dominating Europe and Premier League in years to come.

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Departures are a huge factor in those plans and on that list of players leaving the blue side of Manchester two surprising names emerged - Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez.

City are prepared to offload their budget and refine their squad during the transfer window regardless of the outcome of this evening's Champions League final in Portugal.

Sportsmail reports City would be willing to listen to offers for the 26-year-old Englishman since Sterling lost his place in Guardiola’s starting line-up towards the end of last season. Algerian Riyad Mahrez is also among those who could be sacrificed for the 'greater good'.

Even though Mahrez has been superb in recent weeks - particularly in the Champions League semi-final against PSG - if the deal was right, City would consider moving him elsewhere. Similar scenarios follow Brazilian forward Gabriel Jesus and French-turned-Spaniard defender Aymeric Laporte.

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And the ones showing most interest in the first-two-mentioned are Arsenal.

During his spell at City under Guardiola, Gunners current boss Mikel Arteta worked with both. However, there is doubt over Arsenal’s ability to meet either player's financial demands and of course the lack of European football at Emirates Stadium next season.

For a long time, Sterling has also been monitored by Barcelona and Real Madrid and by selling Raheem, City will collect finance to chase after their new targets.

Aston Villa's Jack Grealish imposed as their No 1 midfield acquisition and his services would probably cost Citizens around 142 million USD (15 billion KSH).

On the City's wish list is England captain Harry Kane also so in order to bring to massive English reinforcements, Sterling is most probably the first to be sold out of the batch of more important names in the Etihad squad.