Farcical birthday strop indicates Toure may want out of City

Yaya Toure’s Manchester City future is the subject of speculation after a confusing and increasingly farcical day of comments from the player and his agent.

Toure’s outspoken representative, Dimitry Seluk, first said Toure, City’s midfield driving force, could quit the club this summer because he felt under-appreciated and disrespected.

He also attracted some ridicule by claiming the player’s chief complaint was a lack of acknowledgement of his 31st birthday during last week’s post-season tour of Abu Dhabi. This grievance was soon exposed as untrue as media highlighted a video City published last week of Toure being presented with a birthday cake. The club also tweeted a birthday message at the time.

Seluk responded by attempting to clarify his remarks, insisting those measures did not go far enough.

“He got a cake but when it was Roberto Carlos’s birthday, the president of Anzhi (Makhachkala) gave him a Bugatti,” he said in one of his more remarkable comments in a BBC interview, although he did add he did not expect City to give Toure a car.

Toure then weighed in and appeared to put an end to the matter as he joked about the birthday comments and then underlined his commitment to City.

The Ivory Coast international tweeted: “Please do not take words that do not come out of MY mouth seriously. Judge my commitment to @MCFC by my performances.”

But around an hour later, Toure performed a U-turn, changing his position and endorsing that of Seluk.

He tweeted: “Everything dimitry said is true. He speaks for me. I will give an interview after world cup to explain.”

Seluk then took to the airwaves again to reiterate his earlier statements. He insisted the birthday issue remained a bone of contention, claiming that nobody in a senior position at City had wished Toure many happy returns.

“This happened on May 13,” Seluk said. “Today is May 20.

“Until now nobody from staff called Yaya and said sorry. It really was not right. It is not a little bit correct. If they don’t want Yaya, no problem. We can leave any moment, without any problem.

“He’s very upset and he started thinking of leaving the club. And he will leave if things carry on like this.”

He later added: “It is an important human relationship to shake hands and say ‘happy birthday’ but nobody did it to Yaya. It shows they don’t care about him.”

Seluk went on to suggest Toure’s initial tweets did not come from the player himself. Seluk said: “After that he said ‘what Dimitry said is true’. Before that was not really from Yaya... After that Yaya put what he wanted and not what he asked persons to do.”

He insisted the threat for Toure to leave was genuine and the player felt so seriously about it he would take a pay cut. Seluk said: “Getting clubs interested in Yaya is not a problem. For Yaya to find a job there is no question.

“We’ve not asked any money, we don’t ask any presents. We’re only talking about attention.” Asked if Toure would be a City player at the start of next season, Seluk said: “I don’t know. Yaya will also speak personally with staff and I hope after that will make a decision.”

Toure later deleted two of his tweets — notably the one saying people should not take words seriously unless they come out of his mouth — which seemingly made his position clearer, as his last word on the matter stressed his agent speaks for him.