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Yaya Toure delivers verdict on Man City building statue for David Silva
Manchester City have announced they will build a statue for David Silva.
Yaya Toure has given a very pointed reaction to the news that David Silva is to get a statue built at the Etihad. After all – the man who delivered Manchester City three league titles after a 40-year famine famously did not even get a birthday cake. Toure blamed his former agent for questioning the club's attitude towards their player of the year in 2014 by failing to mark his 31st birthday properly.
But clearly he, too, feels overlooked when the matter of Silva's tribute is brought up.
“The statue for Silva, I am very delighted, very happy. They gave him that. For me, it's up to the club – I have nothing much to say about that. They can decide what they want.
“Is it odd though? Yeah. But I can do nothing about it because it is up to the club.
“The fans know better.”
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It is not the only way Toure feels slighted by a lack of recognition.
After winning the African player of the year four years in a row from 2011 to 2014, it still rankles that he did not feature in the Ballon d'Or awards.
Kolo Toure says his young brother would have done with his talent if he shared the same work ethic, and Yaya admitted: “Yeah, he said that to me.
“When I was playing for City I don't know what I had to do to win this award. What are people judging it on?
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“At City I did a lot of incredible things – I was scoring goals, taking the ball from the middle, dribbling through everybody and scoring.
“Maybe I could fly with the ball – that might win me the award. It's what I would say to my wife, to be honest. 'Babe, I don't know what I have to do to achieve that award. It is unbelievable.'
“So I just had to go to Africa and get the award there – four in a row.”
Yaya Toure was speaking at the “Hotels.com Dream Screen” drive-in experience ahead of the UEFA Champions League Semi-Final 2020. Hotels.com is the official partner of the UEFA Champions League.
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