City slicker: Yaya Toure will join the Eastlands revolution after the World Cup
Watch Yaya Toure great goool
So why do Manchester City want such an expensive midfielder?
Well, he is the first-choice holding midfielder for the best footballing team on the planet. Or at least he was two seasons ago when Barcelona became the first team ever to win the treble in Spain. Last season he lost his place to Spain international Sergio Busquets.
City are actually spending £28m on someone’s ‘reserve’ holding midfielder?
The reserve thing shouldn’t worry City fans. Toure never deserved to lose his place. He was superb the year they won everything but at Barcelona whenever it is a close call between two players, and one happens to be Catalan, the other one always loses out. Busquets’ father, Carles, played in goal for Barcelona and would have shared a dressing room with current Barca coach Pep Guardiola. Now Busquets Jnr is the apple of Pep’s eye and Toure has suffered.
Has Toure only ever lost his place because of favouritism?
Well, mainly. Guardiola also thinks Toure is a little bit undisciplined. He does tend to go off on mazy little runs sometimes that in the coach’s eyes drag the team out of shape. Although one such run ended in a Ricky Villa-style wonder goal in January 2009 against Mallorca.
And will the fans miss him?
Most definitely. Fan polls are big in Spain and club presidents usually pay attention to them. All the votes regarding Toure have been 70 per cent in favour of him staying.
So why is no one listening this time?
If new president Sandro Rosell sells Toure to pay for the signing of Cesc Fabregas then nobody will complain.
OK, so Manchester City fans can look forward to seeing a pretty good holding midfielder who sometimes scores special goals, but £28m still seems like an awful lot of money. Does he do anything else?
Despite the sterling performances in midfield, Toure’s finest hour for Barcelona actually came in the Champions League final against Manchester United in 2009 when he was playing at centre half. He also played the league run-in and the Spanish cup final in defence and was outstanding in that final against Cristiano Ronaldo.
Job done: Yaya starred for Barcelona at centre-half in the Champions League final against Manchester United
Job done: Yaya starred for Barcelona at centre-half in the Champions League final against Manchester United
Problem solved. Why didn’t he continue playing there, allowing Guardiola to bring in his golden boy Busquets?
Good question. One of the mysteries of last season was why, having played so well in that position against such tough opposition and in the biggest domestic game in world football, Toure never played there again. Barcelona love nothing more than a central defender who is comfortable on the ball. Maybe it comes back to Guardiola believing that Toure just lacks discipline, but that was certainly not the case in the Champions League final against Ronaldo.
But there could be two Toures in the centre of Manchester City’s defence next season?
Not necessarily. When he was presented at Barcelona his wife insisted the name on his shirt be Yaya and not Toure. But yes, he could play at the back for City alongside his brother, no question about it.
Brotherly love: Kolo (right) is already at City and will no doubt be talking up the club to his brother on international duty
Brotherly love: Kolo (right) is already at City and will no doubt be talking up the club to his brother on international duty
And will he be a good boy for City off the pitch as well as on it?
He is a model professional but ‘beware the agent’. Barcelona hate players with, shall we say, talkative representatives. Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s agent has done his player no favours recently by saying that ‘Guardiola should be put in a mental institution for not picking him’ and Toure’s man, Dimitri Seluk, was talking up a new contract one year into the player’s original deal and then started saying he would be leaving because he wasn’t happy about not being picked. But apart from the lively agent, he is a class act who has had a rough deal at the Nou Camp.
Just one more question — didn’t Arsene Wenger once reject him because he was too slow?
Wenger did give him a trial in 2003 in a friendly against Barnet. But afterwards he was more interested in signing a certain AS Cannes left back, Gael Clichy, who also played in that game. It didn’t do Toure’s cause much good that he played up front and missed a sitter. As for his pace, he is not the quickest but it is not a real problem. Guardiola once described him as a ‘diesel player’ — in other words, fine once he gets warmed up and also very powerful.
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