Pep Guardiola's relationship with Yaya Touré wasn't the best at Barcelona, and the problems between them escalated up to the point where Toure's agent insulted the Catalan boss last season.
Only an apology from Touré forced Pep Guardiola to forget about the issue, and even handed the player a contract extension. In the next few days, Touré will say goodbye to Manchester City after eight seasons, and Guardiola wants to offer Touré a proper sendoff due to his contribution to the team.
“The football players are the ones who make the club big and big and bigger, and without doubt he was one of the most imp players in our history. He helped this club make a big step forward, to be bigger and hopefully we can play a good game for him. Tomorrow we will play for Yaya,” Guardiola stated.
Touré has only played 16 games in all comps for Man City this season, scoring zero goals.
Despite not being able to score any goals for the team this season, Guardiola urged fans to remember Toure's contribution for the club, and even admitted that he may have made some wrong calls regarding the player during their time together.
I'm not going to judge Yaya for what happened this season. Maybe I was wrong in my decisions. But you have to judge him on his whole career – in Russia, Monaco and Barcelona – not just in Manchester," Guardiola added.
"He's the only guy last season whose contract we extended, because we believed he could help us this season and he behaved well, we had no complaints," Manchester City's boss concluded.
The Citizens will have two more games this week before they enjoy some time off. Wednesday's clash against Brighton could be Toure's final game at the Etihad if Guardiola chooses to use him, and their trip to Southampton this weekend will mark the end of Toure's career at the club.
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