Yaya Toure has revealed he is “staying” at Manchester City.
The Ivory Coast midfielder disclosed to SkySportsNews that he will honour his contract at the Premier League champions “for as Long as possible”.
“The fans have always been good to me, they’ve been good to my family,” the former Barcelona playmaker is quoted as saying.
“I want to stay. I will always honour my contract. I don’t think about all this speculation. It’s a big pleasure to stay and enjoy the next season.
The 31-year-old threw his future with City into doubt by backing up his agent’s claims that the club’s wealthy owners showed him lack of respect on his 31st birthday.
Dimitri Seluk claimed Toure was infuriated by City’s owner, who ignored the midfielder, and neither “shook his hands” on the squad’s arrival in the United Arab Emirates a day after winning the Barclays Premier league which coincided with his birthday.
City gave Toure a birthday cake as they flew to Abu Dhabi and tweeted their congratulations, but the agent had called the club’s gesture “a joke”.
Seluk, who spoke before Toure, told Sky Sports News’ Amy Lewis: I would like to say Yaya will stay at City. He won’t go to any club. Everybody can stop speculation about this. Yaya will stay at Manchester City 100%. He has a contract, he will work very hard and I hope this season he will be the best player in England.”
In march 2013, Seluk also claimed Toure was unhappy, shortly before the reigning African player of the year signed a new four year contract.
Speculations had strongly linked the 31-year-old with French Ligue 1 champions Paris St-Germain before a Daily Star report on Friday morning claimed he snubbed the chance to join neighbours Manchester United.
Toure described the speculations as “disappointing”, adding he is out to pay city fans back in kind.
“Everything is fine now,” added Toure. “There was a lot of speculation, you know. I think sometimes it’s quite disappointing. I need to do something for the fans, it’s important to let them know.
“They’ve done a lot for me. The team is preparing well and we will try to win again next season.”
Toure however reiterated his confidence in his agent Seluk and stressed money was never a problem between himself, his agent nor City.
“He’s quite strong sometimes but he’s a very good guy,” he said.
“To be honest, we never wanted to talk about money. There are more important things than money. To be happy, healthy. Respect as well is very important.”
