The Ivorian midfielder has attempted to build bridges in a bid to revive his Manchester City career, but his representative is reluctant to follow suit
Dimitri Seluk has muddied the waters over Yaya Toure’s apology to Manchester City for his representative’s actions by insisting that he will not say sorry to Pep Guardiola.
The midfielder posted a statement on Facebook on Friday saying that he wished to apologise “on behalf of myself and those who represent me” after Seluk’s public comments about Guardiola landed him in exile from first-team action.
The Catalan selected Toure for the Champions League play-off against Steaua Bucharest in August but left him out of his squad for the competition proper, prompting a vitriolic response from the outspoken Seluk.
Yaya issues Man City apology
Guardiola stressed Toure would not feature for City again until he apologised for his agent’s words and, although the 33-year-old former Ivory Coast midfielder did not mention his manager by name, his Facebook post appears to have fulfilled his side of the bargain.
The statement came after Seluk told the Daily Mirror he wanted to make peace with Guardiola in order to prolong Toure’s decorated career at the Etihad Stadium, which began when his current boss allowed him to leave Barcelona in 2010.
But speaking to talkSPORT, Seluk seemed to complicate the issue by maintaining that his persistent swipes against the methods of a coach he believes to have “humiliated” Toure need not be withdrawn.
“We want peace, but I’m not apologising. Apologise for what?” he said.
“Maybe Toure has apologised for this, but I don’t know for what. I think Yaya don’t mean this. He wants peace between him and Guardiola.
“A lot of supporters want to see Yaya on the field and Yaya wants to help Manchester City get good results.
Seluk: Pep won’t return my calls
“We want to make peace between Guardiola, Yaya and me for the supporters, the team and for the results.
“A player like Yaya, one of the top players in the world, with a big salary, normally doesn’t stay out of the team. He must play.”
City entertain Middlesbrough on Saturday in the Premier League, on the back of their impressive 3-1 Champions League triumph against Barcelona, with Guardiola set to face the media in pre-match news conference later on Friday.