The 32-year-old's agent insists a new deal must be agreed next week - or the midfielder will look to join another team this summer
Yaya Toure will leave Manchester City this summer if he does not agree a new contract next week, the midfielder’s agent has said.
The 32-year-old’s representative, Dimitri Seluk, claimed in February that Toure is likely to quit City at the end of the season once Pep Guardiola replaces Manuel Pellegrini as manager.
But Seluk now insists that the Ivorian, who has a year remaining on his current deal, wants to stay at the Etihad Stadium and will not join another Premier League club.
“In the next week we must find a solution about whether Yaya will prolong his contract with City or he will go to another club,” Seluk told The Sun.
“But if he leaves City it will surely not be for another English club.
“Supporters love Yaya and he loves them. He does not want to play against City with another English club. How can he go to another English team and forget the love City fans have showed him?
"They hired a plane with a banner to say ‘Happy Birthday, Yaya.’ He will never forget that.
“Some people say he came only for money. But when he came City were only sixth or seventh and had never made it into the Champions League.
“With Yaya the team started winning. Yaya won every trophy in England but not the Champions League. I hope the draw on Friday is good and they can go to the semi-finals.”
Seluk also claims Chinese club Jiangsu Suning offered Toure a deal that would see him double the £220,000 he earns a week at City.
“We rejected a huge offer from a Chinese club, the same that bought Ramires, for much more money than Ramires,” he said.
"We don’t want to go there. And we will never go to China. Yaya does not think about money. Yaya thinks about football.
“He wants to finish at the highest level. The offer from China was more than double what he earns at City. If he liked money more than football he would immediately go to China.
“But Yaya prefers to stay at City. He likes the fans and the town. His heart is in Manchester where his brother Ibrahim died of cancer in a Manchester hospital.”
- Goal