Ex-Manchester Player Accuses Club Manager of Racism

Ex-Manchester City midfielder Yaya Touré accused City manager Pep Guardiola of being racist in an intense interview with France Football.

Touré, a native of the Ivory Coast in West Africa, played for Guardiola for two years in Barcelona, and then for three in Manchester. He said the manager was cold to him, which Touré believed was due to his heritage. Touré told France Football that he wanted to “be the one who breaks the Guardiola myth.”

“When we realize he often has problems with Africans wherever he goes, I ask myself questions,” Touré said. “It got to the point I asked myself if it was because of my color.”

Touré described “cruel” locker room situations, in which Guardiola would ridicule his performance in front of other players. City Watch reported that Touré said Guardiola told him to “go see the owners” if he did not want to remain on the team and that Guardiola tried to ruin his final season.

The 35-year-old Touré started 22 games during the 2016-17 season for Manchester City, but was used sparingly in his final (2017-18) season. He said Guardiola would criticize his play so often that he would ask the physical trainers about his game statistics to see whether or not he was performing as badly as Guardiola told him.

“And when I realized that they were as good or better, both in training and match, as those who played and were younger than me, I understood that it was not a question of physics,” he said. “I do not know why, but I have the impression that [Guardiola] was jealous, he took me for a rival.”

Both Manchester City and Guardiola declined to comment on the allegations, but Touré’s agent, Dmitri Seluk, had strong words for Guardiola about the allegations. Seluk and Guardiola have had a rough relationship in the past and it likely will not get better since Touré’s interview.

“The way he acted towards Yaya, a club legend, coming up with various pretexts not to let him play…He has set all of African against him, many African fans have turned away from Manchester City,” Seluk said. “And I am sure that many African [influencers] will not let Guardiola win the Championships League in the future, it will be like an African curse on Guardiola. Time will tell if I am right or not.”

Touré, who played his final game for Manchester City in May, was the only active player on the team’s roster of African descent, but they are expected to sign Riyad Mahrez, who was born in France to Algerian parents, this summer. There’s no telling whether or not the allegations against Guardiola will affect the signing. Touré said in his interview that Africans are used to being treated differently in football clubs.

“I am not the first to talk about these differences in treatment…Maybe we Africans are not always treated by some in the same way as others,” he said. “But the day [Guardiola] picks a team with five Africans in, I promise I will send him a cake!”

Touré will not return to Manchester City next season and his agent said he would be willing to sign as a free agent with any top-six English club for a one-pound a week salary, with a monetary bonus system in place, for the chance to win a championship and no longer work under Guardiola.

Guardiola has worked with other players of color in previous seasons—including Jamaican-born midfielder Raheem Sterling—without public incidents or problems; and no other players have made comments against Guardiola since Touré’s allegations broke on Monday.

 

Featured Image via: Wikimedia Commons

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