Dimitri Seluk, Yaya Touré’s agent when the Ivorian played for Manchester City, has denied receiving any secret payment from the club. That is understood to be among the charges brought against the champions by the Premier League.
The Premier League announced the charges on Monday and that an independent commission would consider these. Touré was at City from 2010-18 and won three league titles, the FA Cup and two League Cups.
Seluk, who no longer works for Touré, an academy coach at Tottenham, was asked by the Guardian whether City had made him any secret payments when he represented the player at the club. “No, everything was transparent, there was nothing on the back side,” he said. “I am interested to see what happens as this was a surprise. Yaya paid everything – tax and everything. It was all transparent.”
Seluk would be happy to speak to the independent commission if contacted. “Of course,” he said. “I would tell them the same.”
City have denied any wrongdoing and said they welcomed “the review of this matter by an independent commission, to impartially consider the comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence that exists in support of its position”.
The league usually grants clubs 14 days to respond to charges but City may be given more time because of the volume of charges against them.
There is the prospect of City executives coming face to face with Premier League officials for the first time since the charges were announced as the league holds an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting in central London this week.
A quarterly meeting had been planned for this month and is set to be held over two days on Thursday and Friday. The charges against City are likely to be top of the agenda, with the champions unlikely to have many allies in the room.
