Why Toure has no chance of Man City return despite public apology
The midfielder finally apologised to Pep Guardiola
for his agent's comments but anybody expecting him to return to the
line-up in the near future should think again
COMMENT
Yaya Toure may have apologised - belatedly - to Pep Guardiola and Manchester City, but do not expect him to pull on a blue jersey anytime soon.
Anybody expecting Toure to contribute against Middlesbrough on Saturday, or even at any point in the coming weeks, should not get their hopes up.
Guardiola said he would not consider the midfielder for selection until he apologised for comments made in the press by his relentless agent, Dimitri Seluk.
The apology has finally arrived, but Guardiola will no change his mind.
Back in September it had appeared that the City boss played his hand brilliantly. After all, Toure had only made one appearance up until that point and that was against Steaua Bucharest, when City already held a 5-0 aggregate lead. The fact Joe Hart also played in that game should tell you everything you need to know.
But to remove any doubt whatsoever, it must be pointed out that City wanted rid of Toure all summer. He has no place in Guardiola’s plans.
It is understood that both the club and Toure lined up potential suitors, but none of the relevant parties could agree a deal. Toure would not go where City wanted and City did not want Toure to go where he wanted.
In the end, the Ivorian elected to stay put, despite knowing he would have little chance of playing. Remember, City had played five games by the time the transfer window closed, and he had been left out of the Champions League squad by that point.
That decision, of course, triggered Seluk to launch one of his infamous outbursts. He rang up several journalists to accuse Guardiola of "humiliating" his client, among other things.
Guardiola used that to explain why Toure was not playing. He said there would be no change in the situation until Seluk apologised. Of course, within hours Seluk exploded and only succeeded in making himself look worse.
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