Upon joining Manchester City back in 2016, Pep Guardiola inherited a talented team, and also reunited with Yaya Toure, a player he had previously coached at Barcelona.
By 2016, Toure was no longer the ‘prospect’ Pep was familiar with, and had instead developed into the ultimate box-to-box destroyer.
Naturally, the Spaniard handed the midfielder a significant role during his first season in charge.
But things changed drastically in the following years.
The duo had a very public fallout the very next year, with Toure sporadically featuring for City on the pitch.
Eventually, he decided to part ways with the club, an exit he blamed Guardiola for. The Ivory Coast International insinuated that the manager had “problems with Africans wherever he goes”.
The most explosive revelation from the saga came years later courtesy of Toure’s agent Dmitri Seluk.
He suggested that Guardiola’s treatment of Toure was so incredibly poor that African fans conspired with Shamans and deployed a curse on the manager, one which prevents him from ever winning the Champions League again.
Of course, depending upon your realms of belief, this may sound like hogwash to you. But after 6 failed attempts, millions spent, and multiple heartbreaks, one can’t help but consider the curse to be a factor.
Nevertheless, the hatchet between the two still remains unburied, at least if this clip is anything to go by.
Captured during a segment on Ben Foster’s podcast, it displays a quick Q&A round with Toure providing the answers based on his preferences.
The cycling GK asked the 39-year-old for his pick between Guardiola and his former assistant Mikel Arteta.
For most, this would be a relatively simple choice, but given the history, Toure replied back with a controversial answer.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he exclaimed ‘Mikel Arteta!’, which fans online viewed to be a subtle dig at the City boss.
While that may or may not be true, it remains pretty apparent that Toure and Guardiola are far away from reconciliation.
