stars in Europe - Yaya Toure wants Manchester City 'job for life' - agent

Manchester City's Yaya Toure wants assurances he will have a "job for life" at the club, his agent has said.

The 31-year-old midfielder was said to be "very upset" by a perceived lack of respect shown him by City's owners. But Dimitri Seluk says Toure wants the "same club for as long as possible" as well as similar treatment to that given Zinedine Zidane by Real Madrid. Zidane became an adviser and coach at Madrid after ending his playing career with the Spanish giants. "It gives a message - 'we like you and you're with us forever'," said Seluk.

On Tuesday, Seluk said Toure could leave City because the club's owners showed him a lack of respect on his 31st birthday, ignoring him when the squad arrived in the United Arab Emirates last week to celebrate their Premier League title triumph.

Having initially appeared to contradict Seluk, the player tweeted his backing for the agent's claims - although one telling tweet was deleted by Thursday. The following message was removed: "Everything Dimitry said is true. He speaks for me. I will give an interview after the World Cup to explain." City, who presented Toure with a cake and tweeted their congratulations, are believed to have no intention of selling the midfielder who has three years left on a contract extension signed in April 2013.

Seluk denied that Toure's apparent disappointment with the City hierarchy was a tactic aimed at increasing his earnings after a season in which he scored 24 goals in 49 games. "People think we did this because we want to change the contract, to make more money," Seluk told BBC Sport. "The contract is OK. For us, the most important is attention from the club to whom Yaya gives a lot."

France international Zidane, who played for Real Madrid for five seasons and scored the winning goal in their Champions League final win over Bayer Leverkusen in 2002, has stayed on at the club after retiring, firstly in a role as advisor to president Florentino Perez and then as assistant to current manager Carlo Ancelotti.

Toure, who joined City from Barcelona in 2010, was linked with a return to the Catalan giants when Seluk made his initial comments on Tuesday. Toure has said he could be playing for another club next season and added he would resolve his future after the World Cup in Brazil. Ivory Coast are in Group C alongside Colombia, Greece and Japan.

Midfield dynamo

    
Toure became only the second midfielder in Premier League history to reach 20 goals in a season during City's successful 2013-14 campaign. Chelsea's Frank Lampard was the first - racking up 22 in 2009-10.