Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has spoken of his sadness following the death of his brother Ibrahim and suggested that his club did not offer him sufficient support during a period which he describes as ‘the hardest in my life.’<\/p>\n
The Ivory Coast midfielder’s 28-year-old brother tragically died of cancer last week, while Yaya was in Brazil representing his country at the World Cup and the City talisman has stated that he felt disappointed that he wasn’t afforded greater sensitivity by his club employers.<\/p>\n
The full squad were required for a post-season trip to Abu Dhabi, where City played a friendly game and met the club’s owners.<\/p>\n
Toure told France Football: ‘At the end of the season, I wanted to stay for four or five days with my brother before I flew to prepare for the World Cup with Ivory Coast, except that City did not want to grant me a few days.<\/p>\n
‘I went to celebrate the title championship in Abu Dhabi while my brother was lying in his sickbed. By fortune, Kolo was at his bedside. After that I blame myself for not insisting and for not making them respect me.<\/p>\n
‘However, club officials knew very well that I was suffering for a few months as the health of my brother declined. This is the reason I had several injuries at the end of the season, because my head had taken control of my body. These last four months have probably been the hardest in my life.’<\/p>\n
Manchester City have been left disheartened by Toure’s quotes and Sportsmail understands that Toure did not request compassionate leave to spend time with his brother.<\/p>\n
City are widely acknowledged to have always adopted a caring and sensitive approach to personal issues affecting their players and they have an impeccable track record when it comes to offering welfare to their players, with Pablo Zabaleta, Carlos Tevez and Emmanuel Adebayor all receiving sensitive support from the club and time off following upheaval in their personal lives in recent years.<\/p>\n
A senior insider maintained that had Toure asked for those few days off, they would have been granted without hesitation.<\/p>\n
Sportsmail also understands that City have been pro-active behind the scenes in supporting the midfielder, both during Ibrahim’s battle with cancer and since his death last week.<\/p>\n
City are believed to have pledged their unequivocal support to the family in the past week, with the club maintaining dialogue with former player Kolo Toure and brother Yaya, contributing to the arrangements for the funeral and even assisting with the paperwork. Before Ibrahim died, he was also invited to the club’s Carrington training ground as a special guest.<\/p>\n
A well-placed source stated: ‘It is what we do for our players. They will always have our support.’<\/p>\n
It should be noted that City, although a little bemused, do not view this latest development in their relationship with Toure as a major sticking point.<\/p>\n
It is understood that there has been no conflict since the bizarre episode that saw Toure throw his future at the club into doubt when his agent Dimitri Seluk claimed that the club should have made more of a fuss for his 31st birthday, with his representative said that the midfielder was left ‘very upset’.<\/p>\n
City did give Toure a birthday cake and wished him happy birthday on Twitter but the player’s agent suggested he was ignored by the club’s Abu Dhabi owners when the squad visited at then end of the season.<\/p>\n
‘None of them shook his hand on his birthday. It’s really sick,’ Seluk added. Toure later backed his agent, writing on Twitter: ‘Everything Dimitri said is true. He speaks for me. I will explain after the World Cup.’<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: Dailymail<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has spoken of his sadness following the death of his brother Ibrahim and suggested that his club did not offer him sufficient support during a period which he describes as ‘the hardest in my life.’ The Ivory Coast midfielder’s 28-year-old brother tragically died of cancer last week, while Yaya was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":27110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[115,29,3],"yoast_head":"\n