City claim they have had no formal contact from any Premiership club about buying Barton, but Monaco are believed to be the first to express an interest.
However, the French giants do not want to sign for another 6 months, when they would be able to sign him on a pre-contract agreement.
When a player is approaching the end of his contract, UEFA regulations allow them to talk to foreign sides from Jan 1 about pre-contract terms, but they can't talk to domestic sides until the summer.
Should Barton fail to agree a new deal and City get no decent offers, then Monaco would therefore be in pole position to capture Barton's services.
Barton has fallen out with Pearce again after he turned up half-an-hour late for his post-season debrief - Barton then went off to play golf after he was told to wait until Pearce had completed the rest of the meetings.
Pearce is therefore willing to sell, but we also need to find a replacement.
So far we've targeted ex-Red Quinton Fortune and Real Madrid's Thomas Gravesen, but there's competition from Celtic and Galatasaray respectively.