Dimitry Seluk, agent of Yaya Toure, has announced the immediate retirement of the 35 year-old Ivorian midfielder. Touré formed part of Guardiola's much lauded Barcelona team before joining Manchester City and ending his career with Olympiacos in Greece.
"Yaya has decided to end his career as a champion,” Seluk told Russian website Sport 24 , referring to the fact that he left Manchester City after they won the Premier League title a year ago.
“The farewell match which Manchester City gave him was, in principle, the real end of his playing career, not only in that team, but in general", he continued.
He went on to praise his client's impact on the game, saying: “Yaya is one of the best players in Africa and had one of the brightest careers in the history of African football, so should leave football at its peak. We talked for a long time on this topic".
Seluk did suggest, however, that Touré would still be capable of competing within football's elite for years to come: “Of course every footballer wants to play as long as possible and in terms of his physical condition Yaya could do this at a sufficiently high level for another five years".
“But we came to the conclusion that he, the footballer who played for Barcelona and Manchester City, could not lower the bar”.
The Ivorian's agent also shed light on what may come next for the three time Premier League champion: "He now starts his fate from scratch and tries to become a good coach.
"I am sure that he will succeed, because he played the position in which he organized the attacks of his team. Yaya went through such clubs as Olympiacos, Monaco, Barcelona and Manchester City, where he worked with good coaches, from whom he learned a lot".
Toure enjoyed an illustrious career laden with silverware, scoring 79 goals in 316 appearances for City, winning three Premier League titles, two League Cups, and an FA Cup, to add to the Champions League, two La Liga titles, Club World Cup and Copa del Rey he picked up at Barca.
He has also been named African Footballer of the Year four times.