Yaya Toure has undoubtedly had a storied career winning a total of 17 trophies including two La Liga titles, three English Premier League titles and a Champions League title. Not to mention being named African footballer of the year four times the Ivorian would be guaranteed a great legacy in the sport, however he let his mouth spoil his latter years at Manchester City.
It is no secret that Toure isn't a fan of Pep Gaurdiola from his time at Barcelona as the Ivorian proved to be only a peripheral figure at the Nou Camp after three seasons with the Catalans prompting a move to Manchester City in 2010.
The same events took place for Toure over the last two seasons when Guardiola took over the reins at Manchester City and evidently from his interview with France Football magazine, which is to be published later to day, Toure isn't too pleased with Spaniard's decisions, going as far as to insinuate that it was more than just a tactical decision to leave him out in the cold.
Via supersport.com:
"He insists he has no problems with black players, because he is too intelligent to be caught out,” Toure said. “But when you realise that he has problems with Africans, wherever he goes, I ask myself questions.”
It's not at all that surprising that the Ivorian would make such an accusation considering that he's been more prominent for kicking up dust than his football over the last few seasons.
That fact that Toure stopped just short of calling Guardiola a racist says more about his character rather than Gaurdiola's with regards to his melodrama exposing him for the self-centred, entitled princess that probably led to him getting the boot from Guardiola at Barcelona in the first place.
He also seems to be overlooking a few factors which have made it easy to leave him on the side lines. First off, Fernandinho has been City's best midfield player and the deployment of Kevin De Bruyne in a deeper midfield role with a far better work ethic makes more sense considering how the Ivorian doesn't seem to be all that handy on the defensive end.
And not to be outdone he went on to dig himself further into a hole: "Last summer, when Pep brutally got rid of (Wilfried) Bony, who had been signed a year earlier for a huge sum, I asked questions,”
So according to Toure it hadn't been factored in that in 31 matches his countryman only managed to score six times? By the looks of things the Man City manager made the right decision giving Bony his marching orders given he's only scored 3 goals in 19 appearances throughout the 2017/18 season since his move back to Swansea.
By the way, if Gaurdiola is indeed a racist how come guys like Raheem Sterling, Kyle Walker, Fernandinho, Danilo, Leroy Sane have been regulars and are thriving with him at the helm? Surely they're not black? Beacuse Guardiola doesn't play those kind players in his team?
And towards the end comes the true issue of what the revelation was about: himself.
"I think I was dealing with someone who just wanted to take revenge on me, who was jealous of me, who took me for his rival. I felt humiliated,” said Toure, ducking any and all accountabilty on his part for his sub par performances over the last two seasons.
"He stole my farewells with City. I would have liked to leave this club with emotion, as Iniesta and Buffon were able to do. But Pep stopped me.”
Wasn't this all about how Pep Guardiola being a racist and not sour grapes of an egomaniac because he wasn't part of Manchester City's greatness?
All in all, the reason Yaya Toure didn't get a farewell befitting that of the likes of Buffon or Iniesta is evident from his interview that he didn't deserve such, and the difference between him and those players is that they put in the time, didn't complain and didn't make everything about them.
No comments:
Post a Comment