‘Uncle’ Yaya given new lease of life at City

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Yaya Toure may have taken a significant paycut to remain at Manchester City but he is determined to make his final season with a club a successful one.

Pep Guardiola’s arrival at the Etihad appeared to signal the end to Toure’s spell in Manchester, with the Spaniard having sold the Ivory Coast international to City whilst at Barcelona.

Relations reached an all-time low between the pair, when Toure’s agent Dmitri Seluk launched a blistering attack on Guardiola shortly after the season commenced.

“Pep doesn’t want players with personality. He only wants players who are scared of him and will do what he says”, said Seluk.

“The first thing he did when he arrived at City was to pick a fight with Yaya and Joe Hart, two of the club’s biggest players. Hart is England’s goalkeeper; Yaya has won the African Footballer of the Year four times”.

“They have both been big personalities in the dressing room at City and Guardiola doesn’t like that. When you first go into someone’s house then you should treat them with respect. You don’t go into someone’s house and ask them to leave”, Seluk continued.

Yet, having forced his way back into contention, as well as earning a new one-year contract, Toure now has a new leaf of life.

Known as “Uncle” by City’s Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane, Toure’s role has developed under Guardiola.

Guardiola was certainly impressed with Toure’s composed performance against Real Madrid this week, telling the Manchester Evening News, “Yaya is a huge personality, he loves to play football,” said Guardiola. “I love to work with guys who enjoy to play football. You give him a ball and he enjoys it”, said Guardiola.

“He played really well. It is not easy against those players like Isco, Kovacic, Modric and Casemiro especially, defensive, but his quality is so difficult to take the ball off him.”

“When you have 11 players and to lose the ball is almost a miracle, it counts a lot. That’s why Yaya made a huge effort today. “Of course with the ball, he doesn’t lose the ball. He has the extra pass to help us be together and when we lose the ball he helps us make that transition.”

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