Yaya Toure's future under Pep Guardiola seems uncertain, but the African is not the first star to have been frozen out by the Manchester City boss, who has now hit back at one of his former players.

Read: Pep Comments On Yaya's Future

Guardiola was recently criticised by ex-Bayern Munich player Xherdan Shaqiri, who revealed that communication between him and the coach during their time together at the Allianz Arena was not good.

However, the 45-year-old manager has now responded to his former player's criticism, believing that Shaqiri is disgruntled because he did not feature much under the Spanish tactician.

"In my career, I have helped a few players, but I know there are others who criticise me in the media – and that is only because they did not play," Guardiola said, as quoted by Squawka.

"That is the only reason Shaqiri spoke. Of course I spoke with him, but every weekend I had to tell him that he wouldn't play.

"That was because I decided another player must play instead. It is hard to keep everyone happy, especially when they don't play.

"When players are in the team, they are my friends. But, even then, I don't decide games."

Read: Top 10 Highest Paid Club Managers In 2016/17

Guardiola has a history of controversially dropping star players, including Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto'o at FC Barcelona, as well as Mario Gomez and Shaqiri at Bayern.

Why do you think Guardiola drops so many big-name players? Have your say in the comments section below.