Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has admitted interest in Liverpool forward Luis Suarez despite admitting a deal to sign the Uruguayan is unlikely.

Suarez has scored 23 goals in 33 matches for The Reds this season and is among the leading contenders to win the PFA Players' Player of the year award.

With Liverpool struggling to qualify for the Champions League again this season, rumours had circulated that the 26 year old could move to pastures new in seek of regular top tier European football.

And while Mancini admits his interest in a series of strikers including Edinson Cavani, Radamel Falcao and Neymar, he concedes a deal to sign Suarez from Liverpool is unlikely.

"I like him [Cavani], but all the world wants him," Mancini told the Guardian. "There are big players. I don't know what can happen. [Luis] Suárez plays for a top team like Liverpool. Cavani plays for Napoli.

"There's [Radamel] Falcao but, again, all the managers like him. Neymar is a good player, he's young, but I don't know if he's ready to play in England because the football is totally different.

"I think he will go to Barcelona or Madrid where the football is more technical. But Cavani and Falcao would work in England. They have experience. Both players are 26, 27. They are good enough to play in England."

City's owners have spent close to £1bn upon taking over in 2008 and taking the club to the Premier League title, their first in 44 years, and despite enduring a summer of frustration, with a series of high-profile going astray, the club appear willing to continue their gargantuan spending.

One of those big money signing, Samir Nasri, part of the squad which helped City to the league title, has come under criticism from Mancini after some poor performances this season.

The France international has scored one goals in 17 league games for the defending champions, and Mancini admits he expected more.

"I think Samir has fantastic qualities," Mancini said. "With his quality, he should always play well. Every game he could be the difference. A player of this quality could be one of the best players in Europe. But it's not happening.

"Sometimes a player thinks it's enough what they did the year before and doesn't understand that every day they should improve.

"If you are a top player you know you can improve until the last day of your career but sometimes you get players who think it is not important to work and this is their worst mistake. Samir can do better than this year. He is a top player but he has not been playing at his level."