Former Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has virtually accused manager Pep Guardiola of racism, saying he discriminates against African players, according to a preview of an interview in France Football magazine.
In the interview, which is set to run on Tuesday, the Ivory Coast international promised to “explode the myth of Pep Guardiola”.
“When, in the dressing room and in front of everyone else, the coach says to me, despite the fact that I was vice-captain several months prior: ‘I do not feel like you are motivated anymore. If you do not want to stay, go see the owners and sort it out with them,’” Toure told France Football, according to the preview posted on the magazine’s Twitter handle.
“It was complete disrespect… I feel like that Pep, without respect, did everything to ruin my final season,” Toure told the magazine.
“I even came to the point of asking myself if it was because of the colour of my skin. I am not the first to speak about differences in treatment. At Barcelona, I know that others also asked themselves questions. Maybe us, the Africans, are not treated in the same way as certain others are… When it appears that he has often had problems with the Africans, wherever he has been, I ask myself questions.”
Toure also cited what he claimed where instances of Guardiola picking on other African players. Touré called Guardiola’s treatment of former City and Ivory Coast striker Wilfried Bony “brutal” and said the celebrated manager was “ too intelligent to be caught.”