DE BRUYNE LEAPS IN TO SUPPORT PEP
KEVIN DE BRUYNE last night gave his full support to Pep Guardiola over claims he has a problem with African players — on the day the Manchester City manager came under fire again from Yaya Toure’s agent.
City midfielder De Bruyne, asked about his former team- mate Toure’s sensational comments, said: ‘i never saw anything. it would be weird if the trainer was a racist with all the black guys in our team.
‘So, i don’t know what Yaya said or if it’s wrongly written or exaggerated. When you don’t play there’s always something you try to find.
‘We had the best season ever, so in the end the coach took the right decision to play with the team who played a lot. So, this year the trainer probably thought he wasn’t doing enough, wasn’t fit enough. i’ve never saw something racist in the club, ever.’
But a day after Toure hit out at his former manager with allegations of discrimination, his agent Dimitry Seluk bizarrely insisted an ‘African curse’ would prevent City winning the Champions League.
Russian Seluk also said Guardiola had been afraid that predecessor Manuel Pellegrini would win many tournaments in case it affected the acclaim he would win at City. ‘if Sheik Mansour and president Khaldoon Al Mubarak think Guardiola loves them, they’re mistaken. He came to make millions off Arab billionaires,’ Seluk said. ‘What did Guardiola achieve? in two years he won the same as (Roberto) Mancini or (Manuel) Pellegrini. Pellegrini reached the semi- finals of the Champions League, and Guardiola? Not yet.
‘City has extended his contract for three years. i bet Guardiola will not win the Champions League during this time, no matter how much money he has spent.
‘He turned all Africa against himself. Many African fans turned away from City. i’m sure many African shamans in the future will not allow Guardiola to win the Champions League. This will be for Guardiola an African curse. Life will show whether i am right.’
Guardiola said yesterday: ‘i am not going to talk about the words of Yaya Toure.’