A two-time Premier League winner with Manchester City and a four-time African Player of the Year, Yaya Toure is a legend of football and often regarded as one of the best midfielders to have played in the English top flight. Toure joined City in 2010 and would spend eight years at the Etihad Stadium as the Sky Blues transitioned into one of England’s top teams.
Toure was a tough-tackling box-to-box midfielder with an exquisite range of passing who utilised his physicality in both attack and defence. Toure was a danger from dead ball situations and a consistent goal threat, which peaked in the 2013/14 campaign when Toure notched 20 goals in 35 games.
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Yaya Toure Manchester City Stats |
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|---|---|
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Appearances |
316 |
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Goals |
80 |
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Assists |
45 |
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Honours Won |
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The Ivorian international, who helped his country win the Africa Cup of Nations in 2015, played with some legendary figures across his career and naturally, made an impact on the retired midfielder.
Toure: He Was ‘That Scary’
Retired midfielder reflects on former teammate
Before his tenure with Manchester City, Toure had truly established himself in European football with Barcelona, who he played for between 2007 and 2010. The year prior to Toure’s departure, the Catalan giants acquired the services of Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Inter Milan, with the two spending a year together at Barca.
Ibrahimovic, who would go on and represent AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United after his time in Spain, clearly left a mark on Toure, who recounted how he felt about the Swede when speaking on Rio Ferdinand’s Rio Meets podcast. Toure said:
“This guy can scare the s*** out of you. Ibrahimovic is that scary, sometimes he scared me. I think he fell out with the manager as well, at some point. It’s only that manager that can not play him and this kind of player, if you don’t play him, for sure it’s going to be a war.
“I remember, he’d been doing a lot of crazy things in the dressing room when he didn’t play, he messed up (the dressing room). The coach would come in and he’d sit with me, (asking) ‘why didn’t he play me?’ He’d go close to the manager and the manager would look at him and walk the other way.”
In the sole season that they played together, Toure and Ibrahimovic helped Barcelona win the La Liga title. Years later, the two would reunite in the Premier League but on opposing teams, given that Ibrahimovic joined Manchester United two years before Toure departed City in 2018.
Given that Toure was towards the end of his time with Man City, he never actually shared a pitch with Ibrahimovic in the Premier League, but that does not serve to take away from what the Ivorian witnessed first-hand during their time together in Spain.
(All stats are from Transfermarkt and are correct as of 03/04/2025)
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