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Yaya Toure (Chelsea Target) And Dimitri Seluk – Analyzing The Cake Transfer Saga

Manchester City might have spent almost a billion pounds in transfer fees since Sheikh Mansour took over the club, might have won the Premier twice in the last three seasons whilst also claiming the FA Cup and the Capital One Cup, but they are no closer to distancing themselves from their former selves. The whole Yaya Touré saga only goes onto prove that for all their money and their recent trophy haul, they are still a joke of a football club, but one that is run by a billionaire owner with bottomless pockets.

The Ivory Coast international’s agent Dimitri Seluk comments that his client felt unappreciated by the birthday snub wasn’t the first time the Ukrainian was threatening that his client would leave. Last year, Seluk said that Touré would leave Manchester City, citing ‘many reasons’, chief among them was the notion that his client did not ‘feel the respect of the staff’.

Yaya Toure
Yaya Toure

At the same time, Seluk also unhappy about the fact that his client’s picture wasn’t there in the crowd. Seluk said: “Around the stadium, while there are pictures of every player commemorating their recent successes, there is not a single one of Yaya. At the Blues club shop you can find shirts to buy with the name of every player, but not Yaya’s.” Even earlier, in May 2012, Seluk proclaimed: “Toure has done all he can do at City and needs new motivations. He would like a new challenge.”

So the fact that his agent is claiming his player will leave is nothing new. If anything, the fact that Seluk has been acting like a broken record ever since the Ivorian moved to City has become commonplace. In an era where self-centered players and avaricious agents are the norm, perhaps this is to be expected.

But the continually outrageous demands of Seluk, like when he questioned as to why there wasn’t a private jet for his client after he was named African Footballer of the Year, is getting a little tedious. Even the latest reason to irk his ire, the fact that his client’s birthday was ignored wasn’t true at all.

After all, footage of City presenting Touré with a cake and signing happy birthday to him, is there on the web. And the club even wished him on their official Twitter feed and on their Facebook page. On Facebook, the post received more than 130,000 ‘likes’ – the most they have ever received.

Once Seluk was made aware of this, in an interview with BBC on Tuesday, he clarified and stated: “He got a cake but when it was Roberto Carlos’ birthday, the president of Anzhi gave him a Bugatti [sports car].” Now is this really what we have come to? True, City’s owners have money to burn, but if they keep giving out sports cars to players on their birthdays, where will the buck stop? Isn’t the £250,000 per week that the owners are paying Touré to strut his stuff enough?

After this, the Ivorian was linked with Chelsea in a big money summer move.

Another reason for his gripe was the fact that the club’s owners ate a 100kg cake after winning the Premier League this season but when they and the players were all together, none of them shook his hand on his birthday. Does Seluk think that his client is 13? Why on earth would a professional footballer in his 30’s, who is being paid over £10million a year be unhappy about the fact that his owners, people he has no connection with, didn’t wish him on his birthday?

All of which made me question whether Seluk thought his client was 13 and not 31. After all of this hoopla surrounding his departure, in a dramatic twist of events, Seluk has come out and stated that his client isn’t after money, but a long term technical role at the club. In an interview with Sky Sports News broadcast on Thursday morning, Seluk said: “Yaya needs the club in the future. We don’t want any more pounds, not a longer contract, nothing like this, only really attention. More attention [paid] to Yaya and Yaya must feel happy at the club – that’s the main thing.”

Once he made his point, he once again reiterated that his client isn’t after more money and added: “I’ll tell you one more time, we don’t need one more pound in the contract.” All of that is absolute nonsense of course, the only reason why the Ivorian and plenty of players along with him signed for City in the first place was because of money. All the awards and the adulation come a distant second and anybody who states otherwise is clearly lying.

The last time Seluk made a similar complaint, his client got a bumper new contract and he is trying to do the same this time as well, even though the Ivorian has three years to run on his current contract. Even in an era where players are drunk on power on money, this saga will astonish even the most narcissistic of football fans.

With club clearly not intent on paying heed to Seluk and the player himself saying that he will explain everything after the World Cup, it look as though City fans face an agonizing wait to see whether the club’s best player will stay on after the World Cup. Whether he stays or leaves, one things is for sure, as long as Touré has Seluk as his agent, things are unlikely to get better and the longer this saga continues on, the more it will ultimately impact his career.