Kolo Toure blasts club over "discrimination"

Dec 6, 2011, 9:15 GMT

London - Defender Kolo Toure claimed he was being left out of the Manchester City side for 'non-footballing reasons' in an interview published in So Foot magazine on Tuesday.

Since returning from a six-month ban for a failed drugs test, Toure has made just four appearances for City, with Vincennt Kompany, Joleon Lescott and Stefan Savic all apparently ahead of him in the pecking order, something he blames on the fact he will be away for much of January and February at the African Cup of Nations.

'I know my qualities and I have got nothing to prove here in England,' he said. 'They know me here. When you look at the performance of Savic against QPR, excuse me but I am relaxed.'

His comments about the treatment of African players went far further.

'To compete in the Africa Cup of Nations is catastrophic for a player these days,' he said. 'Coaches no longer want to sign players because of it. I feel it's going to be more difficult for the Africans in football in the future.'

'I'm convinced that, if I'm not playing for City, then it's not only for football reasons. If it was only about that then I would be playing every week. I'm a victim of that and it has to be said.'

Toure has been a regular for Ivory Coast, and will be a major part of their squad as they try to lift their first title since 1992 in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, starting on January 21.

'When I was in Angola for the Africa Cup of Nations in 2010 the club hired a plane so that I could get back quickly to play in a game against Manchester United,' said Toure. 'I could not get back in time and we lost. I believe the club have not got past that and I'm paying for it now.

'Clubs at this level always have big squads. It goes one way and then the other. I was captain here and so was Carlos Tevez. He is no longer here and who would have thought that would have happened? African players are the victim of discrimination.'

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