Yaya Toure’s agent Dimitri Seluk has launched a fresh attack on Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, urging the club to intervene and tell him the midfielder is considered as “family” at the Etihad Stadium.
Seluk previously slammed the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich head coach for “humiliating” Toure by leaving him out of his first-team plans and the club’s Champions League squad, before going on to talk down the Catalan’s coaching achievements at his old clubs.
Guardiola has said Toure will not play for him again at City until he and the club’s players receive an apology from the midfielder over his representative’s remarks.
But Seluk has already insisted he will not be saying sorry and feels there is nothing wrong with questioning Guardiola’s decision to only play Toure once this season – against Steaua Bucharest in August.
The agent feels owner Sheikh Mansour and chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak must act, saying to The Sun: “They must say to Guardiola, ‘Yaya is our family’ – how is it possible to speak like this?
“It is not correct to do that. It is not correct to give up on a top-class player. But this is his decision – he is a good coach but his personality is s***.
“If Yaya is on the field or not, everyone will ask, ‘What is this decision from Guardiola?’ Normally a person cannot make a decision like this.
“And it is England, not North Korea or Afghanistan – so people will discuss whether it is right and they will have their opinions.
“It is necessary to remember that Yaya, when he was in Barcelona, played as a defender and they won against Man United [in the 2009 Champions League final].
“It is very strange. All supporters like Guardiola but my opinion is that supporters also see that Yaya gave City a lot. They won the title two times with him and won cups.
“We’ll see what Pep does. Many people don’t understand how it is possible to do what he has done with players.”
Seluk insisted Toure would see out his contract until the end of the season unless City approach him and reach acceptable terms to get his client to leave the Etihad Stadium, while again questioning the acclaim received by Guardiola, who has won 10 straight matches since taking charge.
“He has a contract until June and he will stay,” continued Seluk.
“If they want him to leave they must make a conversation with me and then it is if we agree.
“Okay, Guardiola has won matches this season, so everyone must only see his fantastic football. But his personality is far from great. I repeat the message from everywhere that he has been from Barcelona to Bayern Munich. Many people don’t like him.
“When Yaya came to the club they spent only £20million on players, not Guardiola who comes and buys three or four big signings – maybe he’ll spend £1billion on players.
“After that he will say it is very difficult and £1bn is not enough. If he comes to West Brom would he win the title?
“[Claudio] Ranieri, [Ronald] Koeman and [Mauricio] Pochettino show what is possible with less money. It is more easy with half a billion pounds.”
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