Pep Guardiola is standing by his decision not to pick Yaya Toure due to comments by the midfielder’s agent, the Manchester City manager said on Tuesday.
Guardiola has frozen Toure out of the first-team picture after the Ivorian’s agent, Dimitri Seluk, said his client had been “humiliated” when he was left out of City’s Champions League squad.
City visit Manchester United in the League Cup fourth round on Wednesday, giving Guardiola a chance to rotate his squad, but he said that until Seluk apologises, Toure will remain on the sidelines.
“You know the situation from Yaya,” Guardiola told reporters at his pre-match press conference.
“I would like to come with Yaya, believe me, but you know the situation.”
Guardiola is seeking to end a run of five matches without victory -- the joint-longest such sequence of his glittering managerial career.
Toure, 33, has been at City since joining from Barcelona in 2010 and has won two Premier League titles, two League Cups and one FA Cup during that time.