Man City Yaya’s unhappy birthday

It was an unhappy birthday for Manchester City’s Yaya Touré last week.

The club, who recently won the Premier League title, reportedly gave the player a birthday cake last week as the team were on a flight to Abu Dhabi.

However, it seems that Yaya was expecting more.

The midfielder is claiming that City’s bosses showed him a lack of respect and ignored him on his special day.

Touré’s agent, Dimitri Seluk, told BBC Sport that the player was “very upset” and could leave City.

The City star initially played down the reports, warning: “Don’t take words that do not come from my mouth seriously.”

But the player later changed his tune and posted a message online that read: “Everything Dimitri said is true. He speaks for me. I will explain after the World Cup.”

Asked he’ll be leaving the club, the player responded: “We never know in football. We never know.”

This has sparked a wave of rumours that the player may be leaving City – but the incident has a distinct feel of déjà vu.

Last year Just Seluk stated that Touré felt mistreated and was close to demanding a move. The comments were made during contract talks.

In 2012 similar threats were made during club contract discussions – and they too came to nothing.

Last year Touré, a hugely influential player at City, signed a four-year contract, so it seems unlikely that City would consider allowing him to go.

Seluk told UK newspaper The Sun: “Yaya is so upset he’s thinking of leaving City. There are a number of things that have happened that have left Yaya feeling bitterly upset.

“He must concentrate on the World Cup now. But City have treated him with disrespect and have really hurt him.

“They don’t know that money can’t buy relationships – no Sheikh can buy a relationship. This isn’t about money or a new contract – it’s about human relationships and City have shown they don’t respect him.

“I repeat, this is not about money. In fact, he would take less to return to Barcelona.”

Talking of the birthday snub, Seluk said: “What happened at his birthday meant the club don’t care about him. It was proof. 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 the League Cup? His birthday can be on a normal day and, in a normal team, his team-mates and club would at least give him good wishes. But when you win the title on May 11, a day later you go to Abu Dhabi and on May 13 you have a big party to celebrate the title and nobody comes to Yaya to say, ‘Happy birthday’, what more do you want?”

“He got a cake but when it was Roberto Carlos’s birthday, the president of Anzhi gave him a Bugatti,” said Seluk.

“I don’t expect City to present Yaya with a Bugatti, we only asked that they shook his hand and said ‘we congratulate you’. It is the minimum they must do when it is his birthday and the squad is all together.”

Belated Happy Birthday Yaya! We sincerely hope you have a better day next year.