After bringing his seven-year stint at Man City to an end, Yaya Toure has aimed a parting salvo of allegations at Pep Guardiola.
The Ivory Coast midfielder, 34, has gone on the record in a interview with France Football saying that Guardiola simply “doesn’t like” African players, adding that he is seeking to “destroy the myth” around the Catalan super-coach.
While made with typical Toure bombast, the claims of racism are as direct and obvious as they possibly can be…
Yaya Toure claims Pep Guardiola ‘does not like African players’ and was ‘cruel’ with him… Hard-hitting interview in tomorrow’s France Football magazine in which Toure says, ‘I want to destroy the Pep myth’
— Matt Spiro (@mattspiro) June 4, 2018
Yaya couldn’t understand why Pep didn’t play him last season even though his stats, he says, were better than others. ‘It feels like he was jealous of me, he saw me as a rival… as if I was taking the limelight away from him’ #MCFC
— Matt Spiro (@mattspiro) June 4, 2018
Spiro goes on to drip-feed a few more quotes from Yaya on the matter…
He (Guardiola) was cruel with me. Do you really think he could’ve been like that with Iniesta? It got to the point I asked myself if it was because of my colour.
I’m not the first, other Barca players asked the question too.
Maybe us Africans aren’t always treated the same by certain people. When you see the problems he has often had with African players, everywhere he has been, I ask myself questions.
He’s too intelligent to be caught. He’ll never admit it, but the day he picks a team with five Africans in, I promise I will send him a cake!
This being the same Yaya Toure who wilfully signed a new one-year contract extension to continue playing under Guardiola this season just gone.
He made have had to settle for a back-up role, but Pep was also full of praise for Toure when it was announced the 35-year-old would be moving on to pastures new, saying that City “are where they are now” because of the midfielder’s exemplary input over the years.
The pair also came to an impasse during their time together at Barcelona, specifically when Toure found himself dislodged from his starting deep-lying midfield berth to accommodate young buck Sergio Busquets.
Not that we wish to discard or belittle his contention, but what we will say is that Toure has a long and not-particularly-becoming track record when it comes to speaking recklessly and/or irresponsibly when his nose is put out of joint.
It’s at the root of many Yaya’s falling-outs over the years. He places a lot of stock in his own ability and value, and demonstrably struggles to accept it when others take a different, less effusive view.