City only require victory at Bolton in their final Premier League game on Sunday to secure an automatic Champions League place.

After ending the club's 35-year trophy drought in the FA Cup final last Saturday, it would cap an outstanding season for the Blues.

In recent days, director of football Brian Marwood and then chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak have both claimed only minor alternations are required ahead of a concerted push for the Premier League title next term.

But Mancini has warned that a deep squad will be required.

Having seen how Tottenham struggled to cope with combining Champions League combat with Premier League grind this term, and having the memory of something very similar from his own playing days at Sampdoria, when his team reached the Champions League final but finished only sixth in Serie A in 1991-92, the 46-year-old believes City risk undoing all their good work if they fail to strengthen.

"Khaldoon understands how difficult it is to win in the Champions League on a Wednesday and the Premier League on a Saturday," said Mancini.

"If you don't have 23 or 24 really good players it is really difficult.

"This year, Tottenham put all their energies into the Champions League. After that they lose a lot of points in the Premier League. It was the same for me with Sampdoria.

"The Champions League is a very difficult tournament.

"Manchester United have all their experience and won many trophies.

"They played in the semi-final with probably 11 different players to the ones who played in the final. This says something I think."

However, City cannot spend vast sums as they must also meet the requirements of UEFA's new financial fair play rules, which restrict clubs to losing no more than an average of £39.5million over the next three years.

Given City lost £121million, more than their entire allocated sum for the three years combined, last year, they clearly cannot continue with the previous model.

There are fresh revenue streams imminent, through the Champions League and naming rights for the stadium.

However, the prospect of an additional windfall via player sales is limited due to the massive wages of players such as Wayne Bridge, Roque Santa Cruz, Craig Bellamy and Emmanuel Adebayor, all of whom are deemed surplus to requirements.

It certainly suggests a more limited recruitment policy in the future, and Mancini has laughed at suggestions of a £150million approach to Real Madrid for former world player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo.

"I said after the FA Cup final, I would like to sign Ronaldo, Messi, Fabregas and Iniesta if it is possible," he said. "I don't think it is.

"But City do need to buy other players. We also need to buy some young players because we don't have any good young players at the moment.

"We need players who can improve during the year and play in the first-team."

It is not long since the City academy was hailed as one of England's best, nurturing stars such as Joey Barton, Stephen Ireland and Micah Richards, the latter the only homegrown player regularly starting for Mancini given Shaun Wright-Phillips' days at the club also appear to be numbered, but it appears Mancini is concerned by a lack of further prospects.

With UEFA's new rules coming into force on June 1, Mancini may have to get used to smaller budgets.

"I am the manager. If Khaldoon says we can't spend, I will deal with it," he said.

"But this is the last year we can spend because it is changing.

"If we want to lessen the gap with other top teams in the Champions League, we only have the next two months."