Toure's agent brands Pellegrini as 'weak'
Manchester City seek a positive response after their derby day mauling by Manchester United, while John Carver hopes Newcastle can end their alarming slide against Tottenham.
Yaya Toure’s agent has called Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini a “weak manager” and criticised the club’s chief executive Ferran Soriano and director of football Txiki Begiristain.
Toure’s performances have come under the microscope amid a dismal run for City which has seen them go from title contenders to being in a battle simply to finish in the top four.
But agent Dimitri Seluk has claimed the club are trying to make Toure a scapegoat for bigger problems behind the scenes.
He told the Sunday Mirror: “Some people at City are trying to blame Yaya for what has happened this season. But those people aren’t taking responsibility for their own mistakes.
“I am talking about executives who have bought players for a lot of money — and then put those players on the bench. Executives who spend a lot of money on Stevan Jovetic and then drop him from the Champions League squad.
Yaya Toure was a driving force in the title-winning side last season.
“I feel sorry for Pellegrini. He’s a good coach, but a weak manager. He won the title with the team left behind by [predecessor] Roberto Mancini.”
Toure, whose relationship with the club came under strain last summer, has been linked with a move away this summer, with Mancini making clear his interest in signing the 31-year-old for Inter Milan.
“If City want Yaya to leave, they should come out and say so,” Seluk added. “Two of the biggest clubs have already asked me if he is available, and I know that if City would sell, another 10 would call me inside 24 hours.”
City go into Sunday afternoon’s match against West Ham four points above fifth-placed Liverpool and with the pressure firmly on Pellegrini.
The Chilean has maintained he is not worried about his job, but admitted that could change if they dropped out of the Champions League places.
“You are wrong if you think that, at this club, if you don’t win the title then you are out,” he told the press. “If we miss the top four then maybe it will be different because that would not be the same thing, the analysis of the season will be different.”
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