Manchester City playmaker Kevin De Bruyne has leapt to the defence of Pep Guardiola following comments made by former City midfielder Yaya Toure. The Ivorian tore into the City boss, claiming that Pep has a problem with a African players.
Toure’s damning assessment of Guardiola – who has managed him at two separate clubs – arrived alongside the Ivorian’s offer to play for another top six side for only £1 per week in order to spite Guardiola.
OLI SCARFF/GettyImages
However, De Bruyne has attempted to quash Toure’s claims by admitting that he’s never seen any behaviour of the sort from his manager; claiming Guardiola only has the team’s best interests at heart.
“I never saw something. It would be weird if the trainer be a racist with all the black guys in our team,” De Bruyne told the BBC World Football Show (via The Sun).
“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.
JOHN THYS/GettyImages
“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 seen something racist in the club, ever.”
There’s definitely a grudge on Toure’s part, and the 35-year-old blames his former manager for not receiving the send off he ‘deserved’ in his final game for Etihad, comparing his to the farewells of Andres Iniesta at Barcelona and Gianluigi Buffon at Juventus.