Yaya Toure, the former midfielder who once played under the guidance of Pep Guardiola at Barcelona and Manchester City, is not holding back in his criticism of the Spanish coach. In a recent interview on the YouTube channel ‘Zack’, Toure did not mince words, stating, “I don’t see a man, I see a snake… He treated me like I was dust.”
The Ivorian international felt marginalized and isolated by Guardiola during their time together at both clubs. Despite being called back to Barcelona by Guardiola after a successful 2010 World Cup campaign, Toure’s wife was quick to remind him of the coach’s past treatment, calling him a “devil” and “evil.”
Toure’s struggles continued at Manchester City, where Guardiola arrived in 2016 and promptly relegated the midfielder to the bench. Toure’s agent at the time, Dimitri Seluk, even went as far as to claim that Guardiola “only thinks of himself” and “already thinks he’s God.”
In 2018, Toure left City to join Olympiacos, but his feelings towards Guardiola have not softened. He has expressed a desire to break the myth surrounding the coach and believes that his lack of playing time was not due to physical reasons, but possibly because of the color of his skin.
The ongoing feud between Toure and Guardiola highlights the complexities of player-coach relationships in the world of soccer. Despite their past successes together, it seems that there will always be tension between these two figures in the football world.
