Pep - Toure - Agent(Leech)
The war of words between Manchester City and Yaya Touré’s representative escalated on Tuesday when Pep Guardiola insisted the midfielder will not play for him again unless his agent apologises for comments aimed at the manager following the Ivorian’s omission from the club’s Champions League squad.
Touré, who played for Guardiola at Barcelona before being sold to City in 2010, was surprisingly omitted from the 25-man squad this month and has yet to feature for the club this season. That led the outspoken Dimitri Seluk to criticise the new manager, questioning whether Guardiola had “the balls to say that he was wrong to humiliate a great player like Yaya” should City not win the Champions League.
His words provoked an angry response from Guardiola before Wednesday’s EFL Cup third-round tie against Swansea City, with the manager adamant that Touré will not feature for the club again unless Seluk retracts his statement.
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“He must apologise to his team-mates, to the club. If he doesn’t, he won’t play,” said the 45-year-old. “It was difficult to leave him out of the Champions League squad but [the] day after, his [agent] went to the media. He has not had the courage to call me. From that moment he was out. I know him, I know he’s a good guy, but it was difficult for me as well to put Aleix García out.
“I cannot imagine in my period when I was a football player, my manager going to the media and speaking against Johan Cruyff, about this and about that. If he has a problem call the club, and they can talk. Until he speaks, Yaya is not going to play.”
I fully support Guardiola and his stance against this scum of an agent. For too long, he and his kind have been responsible for inflating wages and transfer fees to line their own pockets. He is not qualified to comment on a managers decisions and by doing so, 'his' player has paid the price.
I'm no Man City fan, but the manager is 100% correct.
