Pep Guardiola Refuses to Address Yaya Toure's Claims Regarding His Treatment of African Players

Yaya Toure departed Manchester City this summer after eight successful years with the club, but couldn't do so without taking a verbal swipe at City manager Pep Guardiola. Toure this week made an outstanding claim that manager Pep Guardiola marginalised him because of his heritage.

Toure played under Guardiola at both Barcelona and Manchester City where he claims he was undervalued because he was African. The suggestion of a biased racist agenda is a very serious one, and is an ever-increasing hot-button issue in modern football.

Toure though is no stranger to controversy or to taking offence, famously creating a stir and sparking exit rumours in 2014 after Manchester City failed to correctly celebrate his birthday.

His most recent claims are a lot more significant though and Guardiola has now responded to the accusation. However it seems the Manchester City manager is refusing to be drawn into specific comments on the matter as quoted by the Mirror as saying: "I'm not going to comment on those comments, I have nothing to say."

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Toure’s agent Dimitri Seluk was a little more outspoken on the matter, going as far as placing an ‘African curse’ on Guardiola’s future Champions League ambitions.

“God sees everything.” Seluk said "He turned all of Africa against himself, many African fans turned away from Manchester City. And I'm sure that many African shamans in the future will not allow Guardiola to win the Champions League.”

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Eerie stuff but it’s unlikely to affect Manchester City’s transfer plans, likewise it’s doubtful any clarity will be shone on the matter any time soon. But who knows, Guardiola may be forced to apologise if his side suffers a group stage exit at next season’s European tournament.