Yaya Toure’s former agent says Pep Guardiola is free from ‘African curse’

Former Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure's ex-agent once claimed a curse had been placed on Pep Guardiola.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola celebrates. (Reuters)

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Yaya Toure’s former agent Dimitri Seluk has claimed that the curse he once called to be placed on Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola by “African shamans” to stop the manager from winning the Champions League has been lifted.

Toure played under Guardiola at Barcelona and then at City for two seasons but was benched by the Catalan and made just one Premier League start in the 2017/18 campaign.

At the time, Toure had said that Guardiola did ‘everything to spoil his last season’ and questioned Guardiola’s approach to selecting African players.

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“The day he picks a team with five Africans in it, I promise I will send him a cake”, said Toure in 2014 after ‘birthday cake snub’, which saw the City legend’s birthday allegedly go without recognition from his club.

“I want to apologise for this matter,’ Seluk told the Mirror.

“I think it is time for this bitterness to stop – and I know that Yaya feels the same because he wishes nothing but success for City.

“I can say that the spell has now been lifted by the shamans – and that I think City will win the Champions League under Pep.

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“They have a good chance of winning it this year. But whatever happens they will definitely win it in the next three years.”

However, Toure has distanced himself from the comments and called it “lazy and nonsense.”

My former agent is being quoted by the media about a ‘curse’.

Please don’t associate me with this nonsense and lazy stereotypes about African curses!? 🤔

Media… move on please. This man does not represent me in any way. Amplifying these stereotypes is harmful.

— Yaya Touré (@YayaToure) May 8, 2023

He wrote: “My former agent being quoted by the media about a ‘curse’. Please don’t associate me with this nonsense and lazy stereotypes about African curses!?

“Media… move on please. This man does not represent me in any way. Amplifying these stereotypes is harmful.”

After leaving City five years ago, Toure moved to Olympiacos and former Chinese Super League outfit Qingdao Huanghai before hanging up his boots.

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Since August 2022, Toure has taken over coaching Tottenham’s under-16 side.

City have never won a Champions League title and it’s no secret that both Guardiola and his side deeply desire the trophy.

Manchester City, under Guardiola, has come agonisingly close to lifting their maiden Champions League title during the 2020/21 campaign but lost the Chelsea in the final. Last season, despite having a 4-2 lead on aggregate against Real Madrid until the dying moments of their semi-final second-leg clash, they got knocked out of the competition.