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In the aftermath of their successful league campaign, one thing Manchester City could have definitely done without is the whole Yaya Touré saga. After claiming that his client felt disrespected and unappreciated a few days ago, his agent Dimitry Seluk was at it again, this time claiming that his client is not motivated by money but instead by the pursuit of a long-term technical role at the club.
With every passing day, the saga is getting even more outrageous. After initially turning a blind eye to his agent’s claims that nobody wished him on his birthday, Touré then spoke out and said that the club failed to adequately celebrate his birthday. After publically claiming that his client wasn’t after money, now his agent has come and said the Ivory Coast international would love to stay if he promised a role akin to what Zidane enjoyed at Real Madrid.
In an interview with Sky Sports News broadcast on Thursday morning, Seluk said: “Of course. Like Real Madrid did with (Zinedine) Zidane for example. Zidane played then after that he started working for the club. Yaya needs the club in the future. We don’t want any more pounds, not a longer contract, nothing like this, only really attention. More attention [paid] to Yaya and Yaya must feel happy at the club – that’s the main thing.”
The Ukrainian also insisted that his client isn’t after more money and added: “I’ll tell you one more time, we don’t need one more pound in the contract.”
The claims that the club didn’t celebrate the 31-year-old midfielder’s birthday were quashed after the video of the club presenting Touré with a birthday cake was widely circulated. Add to that the fact that the club even tweeted a happy birthday message at the time, which made his comments null and void.
To which, Seluk later clarified that Touré was disappointed nobody from a senior position at the club wished him. “Of course some players congratulated him [on his birthday] but not the sporting director, not the general director, not the chairman, nobody.
“[The manager?] No, nobody. This is the question. If you don’t even congratulate the player or send flowers to his wife or mother – these are just small things.”
