The Manchester City star has played only 90 mins this season, in the second leg against Steaua Bucharest, while failing to make it to the 18 member match-day squad even once in the Premier League since Pep Guardiola took-over as the head-coach of the club.
The history between Pep Guardiola and Yaya Toure is quite well known from their time at Barcelona, with the manager preferring to utilize La Masia graduate Sergio Busquets during his tenure with the Catalan giants, which eventually led to Yaya’s departure to England.
While the move didn’t necessarily prove to be a bad one for the player, as Yaya Toure grew on to become of the most feared box-to-box midfielders in the world at Manchester City, helping the club win two Premier League titles with vital contribution from him.
When Pep was announced as the new manager of Manchester City, many expected Yaya Toure to suffer the same fate as he did at Barcelona. Though Guardiola clarified during pre-season that the midfielder was a part of his plans and won’t be going elsewhere, a statement echoed by Yaya, who said he was looking forward to another season at Manchester City.
However, Pep Guardiola dropped Toure from the Champions League squad citing his intensity without the ball as the reason behind the axe. This evoked an angry response from his agent and dear friend, Dimitri Seluk, who accused Pep of treating his players like dogs among other derogatory comments about the club and the manager.
Guardiola is never one to take such an attack on his club from anyone, let alone an agent of his own player. This led to the Manchester City boss freezing Yaya Toure and until & unless his agent Dimitri Seluk apologized to the club and it’s players for his comments, the situation is going to remain the same with Yaya.
The apology hasn’t come yet from Yaya’s agent and the situation doesn’t look like changing anytime soon for him. Rather, Seluk has gone on record to say there’s enough offers for his client from America and China, but Yaya prefers to stay in Europe, or more specifically in England. The agent added they will look to sign a pre-contract with clubs in January as his contract with the club is about to end in 2017.
Calcio Mercato has now claimed that Arsenal and Manchester United are among the clubs that are pondering to sign a pre-contract in Janaury with Yaya, that will enable him to move to a club on a free transfer.
The two English clubs will have to face resistance from Inter and Juventus, with both the Italian clubs interested in the former African Player of the year’s signature. Interest from China also continues to persist.
English publication, Express, has backed the claim, reporting Arsenal are ready to offer a bumper offer for Yaya to ward off any chance of Juventus, Inter and China for the player.
Even though Yaya Toure is on the wrong side of thirty and probably past his prime, he continues to have the ability to change the game on his own within minutes and is a leader on the pitch; something the Gunners have been missing since Vieira left the club. No wonder Arsenal are among the club who want to have their hands on the midfielder who has won every cup that’s on offer domestically in England.
A move to Manchester United does seem unlikely due to Yaya’s association with the men in Sky Blue, where many fans still continue to recognize him as one of their best ever players. Inter have been long term admirers of his and Juventus look another contender. It will be interesting to see how this situation pans out eventually, as his City career is more or less already over.
