Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko risks wrath of Roberto Mancini after playing with injury

Edin Dzeko could face the wrath of Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini after he played for Bosnia-Herzegovina against Wales with a knee injury.

The 26-year-old forward ultimately played the full 90 minutes at Parc-y-Scarlets, and was a star performer in Bosnia's comfortable win.

But Mancini is unlikely to have been impressed by his decision to risk his fitness so close to the start of a Premier League title defence and the end of the transfer window.

Dzeko has been linked with a move away from the Etihad Stadium, with Juventus being among the clubs to reportedly have bids turned down.

But the chances of any deal being completed could be in jeopardy after Bosnia coach Safet Susic revealed the striker had made the decision the feature in the midweek international despite his knee problem.

He said: "There was a question about him starting because he has a problem with his knee and maybe he should not have played. But I left it for him to decide whether he wanted to.

"There was a problem with his knee. We spoke and I said it was up to him.

"Dzeko is the top player in our team. And he can play in our team as long as he wants unless he asks to be substituted."

Dzeko, who joined City from Wolfsburg for a £27million fee in January of last year has started only seven Premier League games in 2012.

He scored 14 league goals last season, including the injury-time equaliser in the thrilling title-clinching win over QPR, but six of those came during the opening month of the season as he dropped down the pecking order with Mancini also able to call upon Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli.

But Susic does not believe Dzeko needs to leave City to ensure regular first-team football.

"Knowing him, he always wants to play," he said. "But he is at a big team where there is big competition where he plays.

"There are a lot of extremely good players at Manchester City but the hope for me is that there are also a lot of matches in different competitions so even if he is not in the league games he will still play lots of times."

PA