Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has demanded that the agent of Yaya Toure apologises to the club and to him before the Ivory Coast global will be allowed to play for City again.
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Such an oversight was met with a feisty reaction from Seluk, who claimed to respect Guardiola’s decision but added that “if he wins the Champions League for City this season then I will travel to England and I will say on television that Pep Guardiola is the best manager in the world”.
“I will apologise to Guardiola if he will apologise to Pellegrini for what he did to him”.
“Guardiola wins a few games and thinks he is king”, Seluk said.
“I don’t say anything special, and secondly, I live in a democratic country where I can say what I want”.
Asked again whether he would apologise, Seluk finished: “Well, what do I need to apologise for?”
Speaking at a press conference to preview Wednesday’s EFL Cup tie at Swansea, in which it was assumed Toure could feature, Guardiola said: “It was so hard for me to put him out of the Champions League, so hard”. If you are a gentleman this just does not happen.
Seluk, who pointed out Toure can sign a pre-contract agreement with another club in January because he is in the final year of his deal, dismissed this and feels the midfielder deserved more respect. Pellegrini was a gentleman. “The fact that I am 33 now, the intensity of training and the multitude of games are not the reasons why I am making this decision”, the footballer said in a statement.
“‘Seluk took a shot at Pep Guardiola’s knowledge of football, noting that Zlatan Ibrahimovic wasn’t good enough for him either”.
Guardiola appears to be incredulous at the role of Seluk and does not seem willing to tolerate any interference.
“I can not imagine when I was a player that my manager [agent] would go to the media and speak against [former Barcelona coach] Johan Cruyff and say about this and that”, Guardiola said.
“Maybe it is a new period and things are changing”.
Guardiola told a press conference on Tuesday, “The day after that, his agent spoke and in that moment, Yaya is out”. In the old generation, the manager has to make his job and the player his job, trainer his job.
“Today the [players’] managers believe they are more then they are”.
Toure, who made his Ivory Coast debut in 2004, captained the victorious “Elephants” side having replaced Drogba as skipper when the latter finally called it a day at global level after the 2014 World Cup.
“If he has a problem, call the club, and they can talk. Until he [does that], Yaya is not going to play”.
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While he will play no part at Swansea, captain Vincent Kompany could return, having not played since April after undergoing groin and thigh surgery.
