Stephen Ireland has welcomed the squad system at Manchester City Football Club.

Mark Hughes has such a pool of quality players in his squad at Eastlands he has ample opportunity to rotate, and this is something Ireland believes shows the progress of the club.

"If you left for a bigger team in the past, it was always going to be like that anyway – Arsenal, Chelsea, United. They had big squads who had to fight,” he told the official club site.

"For us to be challenging up there we need it to be feisty and edgy, with even the best players having to try to get in the team. It's important to have squad rotation for the cups anyway."

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