The regret normally associated with birthday cakes is when you greedily stuff your face with too much of it. But in Yaya Toure's case, it came when he didn't get enough.
Manchester City had just secured their second Premier League title two days prior. Things couldn't have been better on the blue side of Manchester as they once again wrestled control back off neighbours United for what would be the decisive time. Then, two days later, a bizarre controversy broke out.
It all kicked off as Toure's agent, Dimitri Seluk, claimed City had not appropriately marked the midfield lynchpin's birthday, sparking wild speculation over a missing birthday cake. Despite the ridiculous scenario, it seriously threatened his stay at the Etihad.
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Toure was actually wished a happy birthday by the club's Twitter account while he received a cake, as well as a song, as the team flew out for a post-season trip to Abu Dhabi but that didn't quell Seluk's anger. "None of them shook his hand on his birthday. It's really sick," Seluk told BBC Sport. "He got a cake but when it was Roberto Carlos' birthday, the president of Anzhi gave him a Bugatti.
"I don't expect City to present Yaya with a Bugatti, we only asked that they shook his hand and said 'we congratulate you'. It is the minimum they must do when it is his birthday and the squad is all together.
"I hear one newspaper has written that City congratulated him from Twitter but this is a joke. It is better they don't put anything on Twitter if they are not saying anything to him. The club's owners ate a 100kg cake after winning the Premier League this season but when they and the players were all together, none of them shook his hand on his birthday. It shows they don't care about him.
"Of course Yaya is upset about this. If this happened to you as a journalist in the BBC and nobody shakes your hand, you will say bye-bye and go to work for somebody else. It is normal."
Toure initially distanced himself from the claims as he tweeted: "Don't take words that do not come from my mouth seriously." While Roberto Carlos' agent, Paulo Teixeira, didn't take kindly to the comments either. He told BBC World: "I don't see why this is coming out," Teixeira said. "It's nothing to do with the contract of the player. Toure has got enough money to buy 10 or 20 Bugattis. This is about egos.
"If Yaya's agent comes out with this, it's because he understands his player, what his player needs and maybe he's trying to make the management of the club do something for the player. But I don't know why they're picking up on this, it's almost to the limit of being ridiculous."
However, Toure then went on to back his agent as he posted a now-deleted tweet that read: "Everything Dimitri said is true. He speaks for me. I will explain after the World Cup."
Seluk threatened that the birthday snub could lead to Toure's early departure from City with four years still remaining on his contract. "There is a big possibility Yaya will leave this summer," he said.
"He is very upset. What happened at his birthday means the club don't care about him. It was proof. They can say whatever they want, 'Oh we like him but we forgot'. Forgot? About Yaya? The player who helped you to be two-time Premier League champions? The guy who helped you win the FA Cup and League Cup?"
Despite links with Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid, Toure stayed in Manchester and in September attempted to downplay the controversy: "My agent made a little joke about it and people took it seriously. I was quite surprised about the way people and the media reacted to that.
"Over the summer there was a lot of speculation about birthday cakes and rubbish like that. It was disappointing for me. I've been in Manchester for four years now and I have never demanded a birthday cake."
The Ivorian icon went on to fulfil his contract and ended his trophy-laden spell at the Etihad by claiming a third Premier League title even if he featured little in Pep Guardiola's side. Speaking to The Times 18 months on from his departure, Toure discussed his regret over the ordeal.
“It’s crazy. The birthday cake damaged me a lot. When people see me in France or Africa, they say, ‘You want cake?’ I was so p***ed [off]. I was telling him [Seluk], you should not do that, no need. I talked with Khaldoon [Al Mubarak, City’s chairman], and I was saying, ‘It is not me, don’t worry’.
“The bad mistake I did was doing [tweeting] ‘OK, he [Seluk] is right’. That’s the one that’s killing me. People started to believe what he said is me. The fans were reading this, thinking bad about me, and I can understand it.
“Before the birthday cake. I accepted it [Seluk’s antics], because I respect [him]. You have to give him credit too because he has helped me through a lot. But he did a lot of bad things. It was too much.”
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