Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini said on Saturday that the English Premier League champions could have news on new players in the next fortnight.

Mancini – who is believed to be exasperated at the slow progress his club has made in luring coveted Arsenal captain Robin van Persie – said the team needed to bring in new players to improve.

“We did well last year,” he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur where the team will play a friendly against a team of selected Malaysian players on Monday as part of their pre-season Asia tour.

“This year will be harder because when you win… the problem is (to) win again.”

“For this reason I think that we need to improve our team with maybe some new players… I’m sure that maybe in the next two weeks we can do something about new players,” he added.

Van Persie’s future has been the focus of intense speculation since he told Arsenal that he would not be renewing his contract with them. Mancini did not comment on Van Persie Saturday but has recently said he admires him.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said on Friday that the club has not received any offers for the Dutchman.

Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany, who has been handed a new six-year contract, said for the new season “the most important thing is that you start everything back from scratch”.

“It’s a new season, it’s a new adventure… I guess the only message that needs to be put out to the team is that if we want to do it again, we’ll have to work even harder,” the Belgian defender said.

Manchester City, visiting Malaysia for the first time, won 2-0 in a friendly against Premier League rivals Arsenal in Beijing on Friday.