Pep Guardiola and Yaya Touré
13 Sep
This is a guest post from Vikki Steel.
From their days at Barcelona, it is obvious Pep Guardiola for whatever reason or reasons does not like Manchester City and Ivory Coast international midfielder Yaya Toure. The Ivorian, who used to be a key first eleven player for Manchester City, struggled for playing time for much of last season in Guardiola’s first season as City’s manager.
It doesn’t appear as if Toure will be considered for Man City upcoming matches and it appears things will only get worse for the Ivorian as Guardiola has reportedly thrown the future of the 34-year- old into doubts once more. According to a report by dailystar, Pep Guardiola believes Yaya Toure’s legs are good and does not see him as a key player for City any more. Apparently Guardiola believes Toure has lost his mobility and can no longer be relied upon especially in the fast paced Premier League.
A report by Mirror which tallies with what dailystar have reported quoted Guardiola as saying:
“I spoke with him and he knows the reason why, but it’s between him and me,” said Guardiola.
“It’s a sporting decision. He was so important last season. Six players finished their contract and he was the only one who stayed because he’s a special player.
But the decision is he didn’t play the last game and today he is not in the squad and he knows the reason why.
“Hopefully he will play again soon, it depends on the player.
“Of course, I demand as much as possible. I want more, not just from Yaya. I want more from everyone.”
Knowing Yaya Toure’s agent, it will not be a surprise if his agent Dimitry Seluk comes out to react to the story especially if his client continues not to get picked by Guardiola. The highly rated and very controversial agent has proved himself to be a difficult person to deal with in the past.
With no Premier League club likely to pay Yaya Toure’s reported £220,000 a week wage package, it will be interesting to see if City will manage to get him off the wage bill if Guardiola is adamant he doesn’t need him. In my opinion, I think selling the player will be good for both parties. By selling him, City will be able to get rid of a player the manager does not want and save some money they would have spent on his wages, while Yaya Toure on his own part will be able to move to a club where he will get to play.
However, all that cannot happen unless the player himself lowers his wage demands. It is apparent that City will be open to selling him should the right offer arrives but knowing footballers these days (just look at Arsenal players such as Debuchy, Walcott and Wilshere who all reportedly did not leave in the summer transfer window due to their ridiculous wage packages ), it won’t surprise me if Yaya Toure runs down his contract and leaves on a free transfer.
Pep said it was for sporting reasons, that’s all. So the story is pure specubollox, there is nothing wrong with Yaya,s legs either. He is still twice as good as Delph who had minutes in Holland last night.
I look with much reservation on any article that quotes the Daily Star and backs this up with the Daily Mirror.
This may be leaking a well kept secret Vikki, but they invent stuff and then use each others nonsense to give psuedo-credibility to each other.
Rather than quote unreliable sources just report what you see and what you feel about what you see (or in this case what you don’t see – Yaya anywhere near a football) because most Blues blessed with more than a couple of brain cells are interested in the opinions of other fans who are willing to take the time and trouble to blog.
For what it’s worth I’d point out that it was Pep who made the decision to extend Yaya’s contract. Yaya could have taken a bigger wedge to go to China but wanted to stay. Yaya sometimes loses the drive and ambition to maintain his training and limit his diet, but when he re-focuses is usually pretty awesome.
He may be finished, in which case the gamble Pep took didn’t pay off, but I wouldn’t write him off just yet. I expect to see the big man back, at some stage, lean and fit and raring to play.
Mind you, I’m not often right
Alph
in my time watching City only Bert Trautman, Colin Bell, David Silva, Sergio and Kompany have been of comparable importance to the team and club as Yaya. It was a master stroke to buy him but unlike all the others I mentioned he has always seemed disgruntled and open to a move elsewhere. At 34 he will struggle to hold down a regular slot now but I hope the current stand off can be resolved and leaves the club in the same way Zaba did