Yaya rivals Drogba as best African in the Premier League
ONE of the great Manchester City careers will come to an end next week when Yaya Toure’s contract expires. I know how much he means to that club. My mum’s side of the family are all City fanatics and I had heard all about the barren years, so when Yaya came along at the start of their revolution, they embraced everything he did. He and David Silva were the signings that were the catalysts for success. There was a spell when he carried City. You could set your watch on him scoring goals in big games and his strikes in the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United in 2011 and a double at Newcastle on the way to winning the Premier League in 2012 will always be remembered. I used to love watching him play but when you were on the pitch, trying to contain him, there were times when he was absolutely unplayable. Sometimes as a striker you get asked to sit on the deep-lying midfielder, but Yaya could either pass it around you or hit a pass to take you out of the game. It’s hard to split him and Didier Drogba (below) in terms of who is the best African player to grace the Premier League. They had differing qualities but they were dynamite — men who you knew would produce something special when it mattered. For that reason, he is guaranteed to receive a proper emotional send- off at the Etihad Stadium tomorrow. Yaya will go down in Manchester City history, a figure who will be recalled in the same way as Colin Bell, Mike Summerbee and Francis Lee. That tells you everything about him.