Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has hit back as claims by former midfielder that he didn’t play the Ivorian because he is black.
Toure, who was released by the blues after eight years, lashed out following his departure from City, claiming Pep didn’t play him because he is black and ‘has a problem with African players.’ But Guardiola has now ended his silence on the matter, describing Toure’s words as lies.
”It’s a lie and he knows it. We were together for two years and now this is when he says it. He never told me face-to-face,” Guardiola said today. Toure claimed he asked himself if it was ‘not because of his colour,’ and ‘often had problems with players everywhere he went’ in an interview with France Football earlier this week. “The day he picks a team with five Africans in it I will send him a cake,” Toure stated. Yaya Toure and cakes – something very familiar about that!
And Kevin de Bruyne has sprung to Guardiola’s defence, stating he has never seen anything racist at the club. “I never saw something. It would be weird if the trainer was racist, with all the black guys in our team. When you don’t play there’s always something you try to find.
“We had the best season ever, so in the end the coach took the right decision to play with the team who played a lot. This year the trainer probably thought he wasn’t doing enough, wasn’t fit enough. I’ve never seen something racist at the club, ever.”
Meanwhile, Toure’s agent has rather bizarrely stated the Ivorian will dedicate next season to Guardiola. “Yaya has received many offers from different countries, big money offers, but we have decided to devote the next season to Guardiola.
“To proving to the Manchester City fans that Yaya is not finished with football. He is full of strength and energy and wants to play in England this season,” Dimitri Seluk has said.
“At a time when English clubs are spending huge sums of money on players, I officially declare that Yaya is ready to move to any top-six English club as a free agent with a salary of £1 per week,” before adding “as long as a success-based bonus system is in place.”
We are still waiting one of those teams to come in for him.