Yaya Toure has suggested that Pep Guardiola's treatment of the midfielder during the closing stages of the player's Manchester City career was down to 'jealousy'.
The Ivory Coast international will leave the North-West outfit this summer after eight seasons at the club.
In his final campaign, though, he made just 15 appearances in all competitions and only one start in the Premier League after being phased out by Guardiola.
The pair clashed previously at Barcelona, which led to Toure's departure in 2010, and now the 35-year-old has opened up about his relationship with the coach, suggesting that Guardiola was out for "revenge".
In an interview with France Football, the midfielder said: "Pep likes to dominate and wants to have obedient players who lick his hands. I do not like this kind of relationship. I respect my coach but I am not his thing.
"Like all players, I have bickered with my coaches. But at a certain point, men who do not understand each other reconcile. This is not possible with Pep, who is very rigid. The other players will never admit it publicly but some have already told me that they ended up hating him. Because he manipulates and plays a lot with your head.
"I think I was dealing with someone who just wanted revenge on me. I do not know why but I have the impression that he was jealous of me, that he took me for a rival. There you have it. We always looked at each other weirdly.
"He was spinning around me without saying anything, watching me, gauging me, but not talking to me. Yet he knows that I speak Catalan, Spanish and English. It should be enough to communicate both. but apparently no. Every time we passed each other, he seemed embarrassed. As if I made him a little self-conscious. As if, also, he had understood that I knew him perfectly."
Toure won six trophies during his time at City.
Danielle Joynson
