China defender Sun Jihai is odds on to claim the right-back role at Manchester City after the former Dalian Shide man appeared in his sixth successive pre-season friendly for the English Premiership club.

City whitewashed Rochdale 4-0 in a friendly earlier in the week with Sun, playing yet another 90 minutes for the club, dished out a solid show at the back to earn warm praise from City coach Kevin Keegan.

"There is nothing written in stone but Jihai is definitely in pole position at the moment in the right back slot," Keegan told the Manchester Evening News.

The 25-year-old defender who could well soon be deployed in midfield at international level told Chinese press that while he has been coping well with the tactical changes at the club, he is not ready to take his place for granted despite having turned out in 28 Premiership games last season.

"We've changed our formation for this season," revealed Sun. "There isn't too much in difference considering the demands for each position hasn't really changed too drastically. All in all, it has been rather easy to adapt to.

"I have said this once and I'll say it again: I didn抰 come to England to play in the first-team. My true aim is to be a better player and being in the starting line-up is not providing the inspiration, playing against strong opposition is."

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