Yaya Toure rubbishes retirement claims by agent: “I will continue playing”
Former Manchester City star Yaya Toure has denied claims made by his agent that he has officially called time on his playing career.
Toure, 35, has been without a club since mutually terminating his contract with Olympiacos in December, ending his four-month stint in the Greek Superleague.
Has Toure retired? Five key things to know…
- After eight illustrious years, Toure left Man City at the end of last season.
- The Ivorian was unable to find a new club in the summer and subsequently joined Olympiacos last September.
- After just four months, Toure left the Greek outfit and has been a free agent since December.
- Earlier this week, Toure’s agent stated that his client had made a decision to retire.
- However, Toure has since hit back, denying the claims and opening the door on a future playing career.
The former Ivory Coast international has been unattached to a club since parting company from the Karaiskakis Stadium at the end of last year, and on Friday Toure’s agent revealed he had decided to hang up his boots.
“Yaya has decided to end his career as a champion,” agent Dimitri Seluk said.
However, when appearing as a Sky Sports pundit for Man City’s title-winning 4-1 thrashing of Brighton on Sunday, Toure denied those claims, suggesting when the time is right to retire he will announce it himself.
When asked by Jamie Redknapp whether rumours of retirement were true, Toure replied: “Never, I will continue playing. Every single day there are rumours about my future in football, but for me football is something I cannot describe.
“I have been playing football since I was young and I will continue to play football.
“For me when it is time to announce my retirement I will do it personally and not through anyone else.”
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There has been a lot of confusion about my future recently. I want to make it clear here that I love football and I’m still in contention to play for a few more years. Yes, I’m starting to prepare myself for coaching badges but full time coaching is not what I’m thinking now. 1/2
— Yaya Touré (@YayaToure) May 12, 2019
I am now ready and focused to take new challenges in playing football!
And don’t worry once the time has come, I will announce my retirement personally and officially by myself!!
2/2
— Yaya Touré (@YayaToure) May 12, 2019
Seluk controversy
Toure’s agent, Seluk, has been no stranger to controversial comments in the past, notably his declaration that the box-to-box midfielder wanted to leave City in 2014 after no-one from the club wished him a happy 31st birthday.
He has also previously hit out at Pep Guardiola for “humiliating” his client in 2016 after the Catalan coach excluded Toure from his Champions League squad in September of that year, while further stating that the City manager was treating his players “like dogs”.
More recently, Seluk took aim at West Ham after confirming Toure was having a medical at a London club in August last summer, before quickly announcing that it was with not the Hammers as his client is “a champion”.
And so, this latest disagreement between Seluk and Toure will come as no surprise, with the latter even hinting at a move to the United States or even Asia only last month.
