Yaya Toure has opened up on the birthday cake saga that took place during his time with Manchester City .
The midfielder, 36, was the centre of the infamous episode shortly after helping Manuel Pellegrini's side to their second Premier League triumph in the space of three seasons in 2014.
It came after Dimitri Seluk, Toure's agent at the time, criticised City for not properly celebrating the Ivorian's 31st birthday after his significant contribution to their success that season and suggested he might leave the club as a result.
Toure initially appeared to dismiss Seluk's claims but later added fire to the story by suggesting that he was speaking on his behalf, tweeting : “Everything Dimitri said is true. He speaks for me. I will explain after the World Cup."
Although Toure ended up staying with City until the end of the 2017-2018 campaign, he admitted that the incident had a lasting impact.
“It’s crazy. The birthday cake damaged me a lot," he explained in an interview with The Times .
"When people see me in France or Africa, they say ‘You want cake?’
"I was so p***ed [off]. I was telling him [Seluk], you should not do that, no need.
"I talked with Khaldoon [Al Mubarak, City’s chairman], and I was saying, ‘It is not me, don’t worry’."
During his eight years at the Etihad Stadium, the former Barcelona midfielder helped City to win seven major trophies, including three Premier League titles.
However, despite being one of the key members of sides that managed league triumphs in the 2011-12 and 2013-14 campaigns, Toure admitted that the saga affected his relationship with fans.
“The bad mistake I did was doing [tweeting] ‘OK, he [Seluk] is right’," he added. "That’s the one that’s killing me.
"People started to believe what he said is me. The fans were reading this, thinking bad about me, and I can understand it.
“Before the birthday cake. I accepted it [Seluk’s antics], because I respect [him].
"You have to give him credit too, because he has helped me through a lot.
"But he did a lot of bad things. It was too much.”
