Yaya Touré is “90% certain” to leave Manchester City at the end of this season, according to the midfielder’s agent, Dimitri Seluk.
Seluk told Sky Sports News three clubs are interested in signing the Ivory Coast international and that he was in London to discuss his client’s future with City, although no date has been set for a meeting. Paris Saint-Germain and Internazionale are keen on the 31-year-old, with the latter’s head coach, Roberto Mancini, having spoken openly about a potential reunion with a player he managed at City.
The agent, who has represented Touré throughout his career with Olympiakos, Monaco, Barcelona and last season’s Premier League champions, insisted no decision would be taken on the player’s future until the summer.
He has given a clear indication the midfielder is ready to end his five-year stay at the Etihad Stadium. “It’s 90% certain he’ll leave Manchester City this summer. Nothing has been decided – we are waiting until the end of the season,” Seluk said.
Touré has two years remaining on a £250,000-a-week contract with City, having joined from Barcelona for £24m in 2010. Despite having a major influence on the club’s two Premier League title victories, plus FA Cup and League Cup triumphs, his relationship with City has been under fierce scrutiny since the birthday cake farce of last spring. With his 32nd birthday approaching on 13 May, Seluk joked: “I have come to London to bring Yaya a birthday cake and I want to check that Manchester City buy Yaya a cake for his birthday too.”
City are expected to pursue more young talent this summer as they look to reduce the average age of a squad who mounted a weak defence of the title under Manuel Pellegrini, with Touré receiving severe criticism for his performances both domestically and in the Champions League. Whether Seluk can find a club willing to match the midfielder’s City salary remains to be seen.
PSG certainly have the resources to offer Touré another lucrative contract and he described them as “a great club” last month in an interview with the French website Foot Mercato. He also indicated he was open to “new challenges”.
Touré said in the interview: “Since I started playing football, I had a dream as a little boy. Today, I am living the dream of thousands of little boys. I represent my continent, Africa, and that has no price. No amount of wages will make me stay at a club if I feel that I no longer belong there or if no challenge exists for me.
“It would be unjust on my part. There comes a moment where numbers don’t stop us, it goes beyond that, even if the English press seem more interested in the numbers than the sport itself.
“For the future, I don’t know more than you do because I will always go where I am offered new challenges. That is in my nature.”
