Yaya Toure is considering the possibility of leaving Manchester City because he feels "disrespected" by the club, according to the player's agent.
Dimitri Seluk claims his client is weighing up his future after no one wished him a happy birthday at a club event in Abu Dhabi on May 13 to celebrate City's Premier League title win.
City, however, may well be inclined to take Seluk's latest comments with a pinch of salt, given that he has suggested that Toure could leave the club in each of the last two seasons.
"There is a big possibility Yaya will leave this summer. He is very upset. What happened at his birthday means the club don't care about him. It was proof," Seluk told The Sun.
"They can say whatever they want, 'Oh we like him but we forgot'. Forgot? About Yaya? The player who helped you to be two-times Premier League champions? The guy who helped you win the FA Cup and League Cup?
"In a normal team, his team-mates and club would at least give him good wishes. But when you win the title and two days later you have a big party to celebrate the title and nobody comes to Yaya to say happy birthday, what more do you want?"
It remains to be seen whether Seluk is true to his word, or potentially chasing a new and improved contract for Toure, who has completed one year of a four-year deal agreed last summer.
Seluk was quoted in March 2013 as claiming 'only Roberto Mancini respects Yaya', although the Ivory Coast international has stayed on at the club under new manager Manuel Pellegrini, and has performed superbly over an extended period of time.
But Seluk warned: "If a player like Yaya went to Liverpool and they won the league for the first time in 24 years, Yaya would be a god in Liverpool.
"But at City, Yaya is no hero. He's nobody. That's how the club make him feel. He's very upset and he started thinking about leaving the club. And he will leave if things carry on like this.
"We're not doing this for more money. We probably can go for less money to another club. If they think they can buy everything, they are wrong. I think these people don't care. Only stupid people would want Yaya to leave."
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Dimitri Seluk claims his client is weighing up his future after no one wished him a happy birthday at a club event in Abu Dhabi on May 13 to celebrate City's Premier League title win.
City, however, may well be inclined to take Seluk's latest comments with a pinch of salt, given that he has suggested that Toure could leave the club in each of the last two seasons.
"There is a big possibility Yaya will leave this summer. He is very upset. What happened at his birthday means the club don't care about him. It was proof," Seluk told The Sun.
"They can say whatever they want, 'Oh we like him but we forgot'. Forgot? About Yaya? The player who helped you to be two-times Premier League champions? The guy who helped you win the FA Cup and League Cup?
"In a normal team, his team-mates and club would at least give him good wishes. But when you win the title and two days later you have a big party to celebrate the title and nobody comes to Yaya to say happy birthday, what more do you want?"
It remains to be seen whether Seluk is true to his word, or potentially chasing a new and improved contract for Toure, who has completed one year of a four-year deal agreed last summer.
Seluk was quoted in March 2013 as claiming 'only Roberto Mancini respects Yaya', although the Ivory Coast international has stayed on at the club under new manager Manuel Pellegrini, and has performed superbly over an extended period of time.
But Seluk warned: "If a player like Yaya went to Liverpool and they won the league for the first time in 24 years, Yaya would be a god in Liverpool.
"But at City, Yaya is no hero. He's nobody. That's how the club make him feel. He's very upset and he started thinking about leaving the club. And he will leave if things carry on like this.
"We're not doing this for more money. We probably can go for less money to another club. If they think they can buy everything, they are wrong. I think these people don't care. Only stupid people would want Yaya to leave."