Guardiola refuses to respond to my apology over comment on African player bias – Yaya Toure

Former Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has said that Pep Guardiola has refused to respond to his apology after he questioned whether the Catalan coach has a bias against African players.

Toure made the comments following his departure from the club in a 2018 interview with France Football when asked about his relationship with Guardiola at the Etihad and Barcelona.

At the time, Toure said: “When you realise that [Guardiola] has often had problems with Africans wherever he has been, I ask myself questions.

“The day he fields a team with five Africans, non-naturalised, I promise that I will send him a cake!”

However, the former Ivory Coast international has backtracked from his previous remarks and said his attempts to reconcile with Guardiola over the last year have failed.

“When something happens that is wrong and you make a mistake, or people use your name and use you to do some wrong stuff, you have to make it OK,” Toure told The Athletic.

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

“We decided to communicate with some important people at the club to apologise [for Guardiola comments] and say I’ve been indecent to the club. Since then, it has been a very, very long while waiting for an answer, but we don’t get it.

“And, of course, if he feels like that, I cannot do anything. Of course, I’ve been in touch with some people there. But the people at the top, it’s impossible.”

Toure has enjoyed a successful playing career, winning two La Liga titles and a Champions League with Barca while claiming three Premier League titles, two League Cups and the FA Cup with City.

Toure moved to Ukraine in February and became assistant coach of top-flight club Olimpik Donetsk.

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