The Pep talk of Yaya & Dmitri

Earlier this week, during a press conference Pep Guardiola announced that he will not consider Yaya Toure for selection in his Manchester City team until Dmitri Seluk, the player’s agent, issued an apology to him and his team for his statements after Yaya was dropped from the team’s UEFA Champions League squad.

So lets start off with some known and unknowns:

• Dmitri Seluk is Yaya Toure’s agent
• Dmitri Seluk has had some run in with Pep Guardiola before now
• Dmitri Seluk said those words and not Yaya Toure
• Dmitri Seluk ONLY acted as Yaya’s messenger and Pepe knows this

I have watched as a lot of ‘experts’ talk about this issue, questioning Dmitri’s ridiculous outburst and its far reaching impacts on Yaya’s City career. Some have attempted to ascertain who is the Boss between Yaya and Dmitri; as to who should serve and act in whose interest. The irony of these line of thoughts is that in trying to analyse the situation, many have looked away from the real issues and have, at the end of the day, come to a hasty and wrong conclusion.

What do I think?
Football is a sport that continues to transform itself from time to time. In today’s game, football agents no longer play a peripheral role in the scheme of things. They are humongous and their impact of the game cannot be overstated. There exist a section of the football world that feels that the influence of these agents are becoming a threat to pay attention to and there have been attempts to whittle down their power in the game, all to no effect in my opinion, at least for now.
Often times, the biggest players work with the biggest agents, and they allow their agents say the things that they are unable to say to the world, in order to retain their reputations as well as stay on the good books of the fans.

Pep knows very well that he’s got no warm relationship with Dmitri and Yaya. He knows that whatever Dmitri said, he must have done so with the full support of Yaya. Note how Pep mentioned how much Dmitri loves Yaya in his press conference. It is for this reason that he may never get an apology in the end. Of course, Yaya and Dmitri feel insulted by the decision to leave out a player of such stature from the Champions League squad, so they have a reason to react.
Just for a little detour for those who don’t know, Dmitri Seluk has been Yaya’s agent since 2001, moving him from Belgium to Ukraine against the advise of Kolo, Yaya’s elder brother. Yaya fondly refers to Dmitri as Dad and he named his first Son after his agent; an action that tells me something about influence and respect.

Yaya Toure is not a 22-25 year old footballer who needs to have a fantastic 6 months in order to secure his next move. He is a seasoned footballer, who just doesn’t fit into into the tactical demands of Pep Guardiola. I mean, think about how many players had been touted to leave City the minute Pep was announced as the new coach. Yaya, Fernando, Fernandinho, Hart, Mangala, Nasri, Bony, Navas, et al. In the exception of the few who buckled down and showed Pep how useful they could be to his team, the others had to leave. And it is actually very simple: When a new coach arrives and he doesn’t require your service, you leave or sit on the bench.

Pep is notorious for these sort of decisions, ones that come off initially as rash by the fans  but which ends up being justified by the coach as he leads his team to success will delivering mouth watering football alongside. Don’t let me take you back to Pep’s treatment of Ronaldinho, Deco and Eto’o, who ended up fighting for his spot, when he was appointed to lead F.C. Barcelona. The guy has the reputation, so there is no surprise here.
There are some who see this whole episode as a loss for Yaya Toure. Whatever you think, don’t forget that Yaya will stroll into the first team of a chunk of Europe’s elite teams or head off to China or the MLS where he will earns some crazy wages based on his reputation.
At the end of that day, Pep will get his way, Yaya will get his move and Dmitri will earn his pay.