Manuel Pellegrini insists he is happy for Yaya Toure to captain Manchester City now, even as the midfielder has hinted his future could lie at other clubs.
The Chilean appointed the midfielder vice-captain at the Etihad Stadium and, with skipper Vincent Kompany injured, Toure is set to wear the armband again when City host Aston Villa on Saturday.
The 31-year-old Toure praised Paris Saint-Germain, seen as potential suitors, and former manager Roberto Mancini, who wants to take him to Inter Milan, in an interview this week, while his agent Dimitri Seluk was more critical of both City as a club and Pellegrini personally.
However, the City manager said in a news conference: "I always trust in Yaya, he's a very important player for us. I always defend him.
"He's a great player. He's absolutely involved in our project. As every player, he has bad and good moments but at this moment he deserves to be the captain."
Toure has endured an awkward season after a public dispute with the club last summer, the death of his brother and a dip in his performances after he returned from the African Cup of Nations.
But Pellegrini is convinced the former Barcelona player is one of the leaders in his squad.
"I don't think he needs to be captain to be a leader," he explained. "He's just one player and the squad needs more than one leader. The way he plays, he shows how important he is for our team.
"He is always leading the other players, they trust a lot in him. All of us want to see the best Yaya in every game. But it's impossible for him, he had a very special season at the beginning with personal problems, then the AFCON. But we all, players, manager, trust in him."
Pellegrini shrugged off suggestions Toure and the outspoken Seluk have made his job more difficult in the last year.
"In a club, especially a big club, you have a problem every day," he explained. "You always have problems, you have to manage them in the best way you can.
"It's impossible to tell every agent of the 22 players what they must say and not say. It's important that everyone can say what they want. It's important to know here inside the club what we want."