Mancini not bothered about Yaya exit

The City manager has dismissed claims that the player wants to leave the Etihad, in light of his agent’s recent comments to the contrary.

Mancini responded,

“Every day we have a new challenge here. In two-and-a-half years we won the FA Cup, the Premier League, the Community Shield. Now we need to win other cups and other Premier Leagues. We need to work more for this challenge. I think Yaya thinks like me and the other players.”

But his response is a direct contradiction to the beliefs of Toure’s agent Dimitri Selcuk who said last week:

“Toure has done all he could at City and needs new motivations. He would like a new challenge, could sign for many big clubs like Chelsea and Bayern Munich.”

But the player’s manager had a new spin on Toure’s prospective ‘new challenge” and claimed he is unconcerned by the speculation.

“I am happy Yaya wants a new challenge, I also want a new challenge. I want to win the next game, then the next game in the Champions League. We want to do everything together."

However, perhaps the only reasonable method of ascertaining the player’s true intentions would be to hear it from the horse’s mouth, as it were. Mancini suggested he will speak to the player directly in the coming weeks and that will provide the basis for any further action, not the claims of the player’s agent.

“I didn't speak with Yaya about this. Hopefully we will speak in the next week. I hope he stays here but I don't know."

Whilst Mancini may believe, quite reasonably, that the player’s agent is merely trying to make himself a buck on a potential deal, some would hasten to point out that agents rarely make such definitive statements in public without the sanction and approval of their clients.

Mancini may hope the player wants to stay but, should his agent get wind of a potentially lucrative move away from the Premier League champions, it might be wise to assume the player will, at the very least, consider his options.