City lose Toures to Ivory Coast call-up

Ivory Coast have rejected Manchester City’s appeal for Kolo and Yaya Toure to delay joining up with the national squad.

The pair are due to report in Paris on Saturday ahead of the African Cup of Nations, which begins in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea on January 21.

Roberto Mancini was hoping to hang on to the pair for a few extra days to they would be available for City’s FA Cup tie against cross-town rivals Manchester United on Sunday.

But Ivory Coast manager Francois Zahoui has insisted all players must report for the national team on January 7, meaning City will be without two key first-team players for the derby clash at the Etihad Stadium.

“Clubs know the rules,” Zahoui told BBC Africa. “I’m expecting them (the Toures) for the FIFA deadline.”

“The national team in Ivory Coast is led by people who are well educated and I was surprised that people in England think that we don’t know the FIFA rules about dates.”

“Here, when we call-up the players, they are obliged to turn up at the date indicated by FIFA. So when we call them up we know that the clubs need to let them go.”

“I said to the managers, ‘Be careful because there’s a great expectation here and we need our cohesion and we have our 10 days together and we need a team spirit at our training camp’.”

“Arsene Wenger was my coach (at Nancy in France) so we have a close, respectful relationship. But even with him I said that the head of the Ivorian federation won’t mess about. Don’t turn this into a stand-off.”

“So our call-up day is January 7. I hope and pray they respect this date and that there’s not a conflict between clubs and the federation.”

Ivory Coast have been grouped with Sudan, Angola and Burkina Faso for the African Cup of Nations.