SPORT: Football
Yaya Toure declares Pep Guardiola’s ignored his attempts to apologise for saying old boss has ‘problems with Africans’

Yaya Toure has revealed that Pep Guardi­o­la ignored his attempts to apol­o­gize for once say­ing that his for­mer boss had “prob­lems with African players”.

In 2018, the for­mer Man­ches­ter City mid­field­er, now 38, made shock­ing state­ments in an explo­sive inter­view with France Football.

Toure has since apol­o­gized to Guardi­o­la — and claims to have even sent a let­ter to the Spaniard — but has yet to receive a response.

But the Ivo­rian has blamed Covid for the Eti­had chief’s lack of response — and revealed that he hopes to see him soon.

Asked about Guardi­o­la’s lack of con­tact, Toure told The Times, “I put it in the past and I attribute it to Covid’s situation.

“I wish to see him. I will be delight­ed. I need to talk to peo­ple who have a pas­sion for soccer.

“I haven’t been in con­tact with him because I don’t have his number.”

In 2018, Toure — who played under Guardi­o­la at City and Barcelona — claimed his for­mer boss had “prob­lems” with African players.

The three-time Pre­mier League cham­pi­on said, “I feel like he was jeal­ous of me, he saw me as a rival… like I was tak­ing the spot­light away from him.

“He was cru­el to me. Do you real­ly think he could have been like that with Andres Iniesta?

“It got to the point where I won­dered if it was because of my color.

“I’m not the first, oth­er Bar­ca play­ers have also asked the ques­tion. Maybe we Africans are not always treat­ed the same way by some people.

“When you see the prob­lems he [Pep] has often had with African play­ers, wher­ev­er he has been, I wonder.

“He’s too smart to be caught. He will nev­er admit [not lik­ing Africans].

“But the day he picks a team with five Africans, I promise to send him a cake!”

Last year, Toure apol­o­gized for his shock­ing alle­ga­tions — and called the inter­view a “big mistake.”

Toure said, “That inter­view was my big, big mistake.

“This one was wrong. I want to apol­o­gize for what hap­pened, I want to apol­o­gize for doing some­thing wrong.

“We decid­ed to try to com­mu­ni­cate with impor­tant peo­ple in the club to apol­o­gize and say I was inde­cent to the club.

“Since then, it’s been a long, long wait for a response, but we’re not get­ting it.

“And, of course, if he feels that way, there’s noth­ing I can do.

“Sure, I’ve been in con­tact with some of the peo­ple there. But the peo­ple at the top, it’s impossible.

“I want peace. We don’t want this (dis­com­fort) all the time.

“For the sake of the fans, for the sake of the club, some­times you have to sort things out the right way. I’ve been in con­tact with some peo­ple there.”