MANCHESTER CITY have lost confidence in Sven-Göran Eriksson after their slide down the Premier League and hope to replace him in the summer, with Portugal’s Luiz Felipe Scolari their preferred choice.

Thaksin Shinawatra, the Thai billionaire who owns City, is unhappy that his club have tumbled from third to eighth, with qualification for Europe now an improbable hope. Thailand’s former prime minister made a place in next season’s Uefa Cup the minimum requirement after a promising start under Eriksson.

Before yesterday’s 2-1 win at Sunderland, City had won only two of their past 12, and were eliminated from the FA Cup by Sheffield United. Shinawatra has been unimpressed by the performances of most of the players for whom he paid more than £50m and wants to change managers before committing another £30m in the close season.

He also wants to make a big-money signing, as a statement of intent, and has declared an interest in Barcelona’s Ronaldinho, but Eriksson is said to be unenthusiastic about the prospect of working with the twice World Player of the Year, who has had a poor, injury-interrupted season.

On the recommendation of Jerome Anderson, his chosen agent and recruiter-in-chief, Shinawatra appointed Eriksson last July on a three-year contract worth £2m a year plus bonuses. He then bankrolled eight signings for just over £46m and forked out another £4m for Portsmouth’s Benjani Mwaruwari during the January transfer window.

After their dispiriting finish to 2006-07, when they took just two points from their final six games, City started this campaign with three successive league wins, one of them in the Manchester derby. Despite defeats at Arsenal and Blackburn, they were still playing well and running third in the table when the wheels came off at the end of October, with a 6-0 drubbing at Chelsea. They recovered well, taking seven points from their next three games, but the rot set in towards the end of January, when the FA Cup defeat at Bramall Lane preceded losses to Arsenal, Everton and Reading. More recently, one point from three matches against Bolton, Birmingham and Chelsea has further concerned board and fans alike.

Some of the summer signings, such as Elano, Martin Petrov and Geovanni, who started the season so well, have tailed off badly, while Rolando Bianchi, who cost £8.8m from Reggina, was poor from the start and quickly offloaded to Lazio. Felipe Caicedo, the Ecuador striker, who cost £5.2m from Basle, has yet to start a game. Eriksson will be paid off after one season, and Scolari, the man the Football Association wanted to replace him as England coach, is now City’s target. The World Cup-winning Brazilian plans to move on after taking Portugal to Euro 2008 in June.

Pini Zahavi, the so-called “super agent”, will be Shinawatra’s go-between this time, and it is believed that Kia Joorabchian, who brought Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano to England, will also be involved.