But Seluk refused to back down after claiming Guardiola had humiliated Toure by leaving him out of City’s Champions League squad and a heated war of words developed.

With Toure’s City career now in limbo, Seluk remains entrenched in his position and has again criticised Guardiola.

The Ukrainian said yesterday: “Pep Guardiola - he thinks only about himself. He thinks he is already God.

“He won with Barcelona many titles but Yaya also won the same titles with Barcelona. Pep thinks now he has won everything and he can do what he wants.

“For me, very strange things (have happened) in Manchester City because Yaya played with them many years, (Joe) Hart played with them many years, I don’t know, (Vincent) Kompany played many years, and (in) comes a new coach and says, ‘Okay, these players out like dogs’.”

Guardiola made his position clear at a press conference on Tuesday after he was asked why Toure had been ruled out of Wednesday’s EFL Cup tie at Swansea.

“I cannot accept as a coach, every manager (agent), when his player doesn’t play, going to the media to speak and speak and speak,” the Spaniard said. “Until he doesn’t speak, Yaya is not going to play.”

Seluk says Guardiola has no right to tell him what he can and cannot say.

He said: “Everybody can speak what they want. We are in an open country.

“I was born in Russia, there was Communist party. I know when it is not possible to say anything, but I am sorry, I am now in Europe, in England. Guardiola, if he wants to live in a country where it is not possible to say anything, he must change country.”

Toure, 33, is in the final year of his contract at the Etihad Stadium and would be entitled to sign a pre-contract agreement with another club in January.

Meanwhile Ilkay Gundogan has hailed team-mate Sergio Aguero as player of rare quality as the striker prepares to return for Manchester City this weekend.

City’s top scorer is back in contention for Saturday’s Premier League clash at Swansea after completing his three-match domestic ban for elbowing West Ham’s Winston Reid.

Aguero had started the season in blistering form, scoring nine goals in five appearances including two hat-tricks.

“Kun is very important for us,” midfielder Gundogan told City TV. “He has qualities very rare in the world, so we try to involve him in every game.We just want him to score in every game and to have him is a very good feeling. It gives us the safety we are even more able to score. We are all happy he is back now after his three games.”

City have still fared well in their games without Aguero, however. During his ban they have beaten arch-rivals Manchester United, thrashed Bournemouth 4-0 and progressed in the EFL Cup by seeing off Swansea in the first of back-to-back matches at the Liberty Stadium in midweek.

In all it has been an electric start to the campaign by City, with new manager Pep Guardiola making an instant impact.

City have won their first nine games in all competitions - an unprecedented feat for the club at the start of a campaign - and are just two short of equalling their overall record for successive wins of 11.

A sixth straight Premier League win this weekend would also represent their best-ever start to a top-flight campaign.

Gundogan said: “It is excellent, it is very good, but we know that it doesn’t come automatically. We need to work hard for all these achievements.

“We just want to win the next game and the next game is Swansea again. We want to carry on our undefeated games in a row.”

Gundogan himself has only just forced his way into the side after missing the start of the season with the knee injury that ended his final campaign at Borussia Dortmund prematurely.

But the summer signing has set about making up for lost time impressively, shining in a 4-0 Champions League defeat of Borussia Monchengladbach and then scoring in the rout of Bournemouth.