WE WANT VIEIRA
City players keen for ex-Gunner to be boss
PATRICK VIEIRA has the backing of Manchester City players to replace Manuel Pellegrini should the club sack the under-fire boss.
Pellegrini’s future at the Etihad Stadium is under scrutiny after a largely disappointing campaign.
The club’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League hang in the balance and there is unrest in the squad, with the agent of Yaya Toure yesterday asking for talks over his player’s future. Now a collective of senior players would like to see Vieira given the reins if Pellegrini goes.
The former Arsenal midfielder is highly respected among playing staff at the club and his excellent work with City’s Elite Development Squad has not gone unnoticed.
City’s first- choice managerial
THOSE surprised at Yaya Toure’s apparent desire to talk himself into a transfer from Manchester City this week shouldn’t be. The Ivorian’s CV tells the story of a player who has always placed pragmatism above sentiment when it comes to his choice of clubs. He left home as a teenager to play in the Belgian second division, followed by Metalurg Donetsk.
History tells us that Toure, 31, never stays in one place too long and it looks extremely likely that he will leave England this summer. He has started to play and sound like an unhappy footballer.
When he does go, he should be remembered for his extraordinary contribution on the field.
Toure has been fundamental to City’s transition from wealthy hopefuls to twice champions. In 2010, he arrived as a statement signing — a £24million fee and £1m a month — for a club determined to accelerate its own learning curve. It worked and he has been one of the most watchable footballers the Premier League has ever seen.
Toure possesses an intelligent football brain, vision and a sureness of touch. He also has the confidence to play just about anywhere on the field.
In 2009 he played as a central defender for the first time — in a Champions League final against Manchester United and Cristiano Ronaldo as Barcelona won in Rome. ‘We had a good team so it was not that hard for me that night,’ Toure told Sportsmail in December 2011.
In that same interview, Toure admitted that he liked to listen to Whitney Houston on the way to training. ‘That other music makes my head hurt,’ he laughed. A detail that had been leaked rather mis- chievously by his brother Kolo, it pointed to a relationship at the heart of Yaya’s presence at City.
Their pursuit of him started in January 2009 when then City manager Mark Hughes presented the board with a list of transfer targets. Toure, in his Barcelona pomp, was on it and so was his brother.
The plan was straightforward. Sign Kolo and maybe Yaya would follow. The brothers had always wanted to play together and Kolo’s recruitment from Arsenal that summer triggered the arrival of Yaya a year later — a pivotal moment in City’s development.
Away from the field, the lumbering Toure has always been a relatively gentle soul.
When he ordered a 50in TV soon after his arrival, he was immediately told by wife Gineba to return it. She said it was simply too big, which was interesting, given that the same day she had taken delivery of a dressing table with Swarovski crystals in the handles.
When, in April 2012, Toure was accused in print of arguing with Mario Balotelli during a game, he told Sportsmail: ‘I love Mario. I am going to take him on holiday to Africa.’
That trip never took place but on the field Toure fulfilled the promises he made when he arrived. The winner in an FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United in 2011 was followed by another against Stoke, in the final. When he scored from 30 yards at Newcastle a year later a first Premier League title was on its way.
This season Toure has, at times, looked his age. Manager Manuel Pellegrini hasn’t always helped by asking him to play as part of a holding two in midfield when it is apparent he is most effective free of defensive obligations. City still win lots of games when Toure starts though and they will miss him.
The footprints he leaves behind will be deep.