Yaya Toure has once again put himself at odds with his club, Manchester City, after claiming that the club did not grant him leave during City’s Premier League title celebrationtour to visit his sick brother, Ibrahim Toure, who died of cancer last week.
In an interview with France Football, the three-time African player of the year said: “I confess that I amstill very sad. I’m suffering because I feel I have done nothing useful for him the last few weeks. At the end of the season, I wanted to stay for four or five days with my brother before I flew toprepare for the World Cup with Ivory Coast, except that City did not want to give me a few days.”
He added: “I went to celebrate the title championship in Abu Dhabi while my brother wasin his sickbed. By fortune, Kolo [Toure, Yaya’s other brother] was at his bedside. After that, I blame myself for not insisting and for not leading [the club] to respect me.”
Meanwhile, the Daily Mirror responded to Toure’s claims by pointing outthat City never refused to grant any player compassionate leave. According to the report, the club would not comment on Toure’s claims, but the report notes several instances where other currentand former City players, including Carlos Tevez, Pablo Zabaleta, Emmanuel Adebayor and former coach Roberto Mancini, were all granted compassionate leave for various reasons.