Yaya Toure: City Refused to Let Me Stay with My Dying Brother

Yaya Toure has once again expressed his displeasure with Manchester City, claiming the club refused to let him spend time with his bother in the weeks before his death.

Ibrahim Toure, the younger brother of Yaya and Liverpool's Kolo, passed away at the age of 28 on Thursday in Manchester after losing his battle with cancer.

After the Premier League season ended, the Manchester City star went with the rest of his team-mates on an end-of-season tour to Abu Dhabi before flying to Brazil for the World Cup – even though he had requested the club give him the chance to stay behind with his brother and family in Manchester.

In an interview with France Football, Toure said: "I confess that I am still very sad. I'm suffering because I feel I have done nothing useful for him the last few weeks.

"At the end of the season, I wanted to stay for four or five days with my brother before I flew to prepare for the World Cup with Ivory Coast, except that City did not want to give me a few days.

"I went to celebrate the title championship in Abu Dhabi while my brother was in his sickbed. By fortune, Kolo was at his bedside. After that I blame myself for not insisting and for not leading them to respect me.

"However, club officials knew that I had been suffering for a few months seeing the health of my brother decline. This is the reason I had several injuries at the end of the season, because my head had taken control of my body. These last four months have probably been the hardest in my life."

Earlier this season, Toure's agent revealed the player was upset with the club's owners and officials because they forgot to wish him happy birthday – leaving his future up in the air.

"Yaya is so upset, he is thinking of leaving City. There are a number of things that have happened that have left Yaya feeling bitterly upset. City have treated him with disrespect and have really hurt him," Dmitry Seluk said.

"What happened at his birthday meant the club don't care about him. It was proof. They can say whatever they want, 'Oh we like him, but we forgot.' None of them shook his hand on his birthday. It's really sick."