‘Uncle’ Toure goes from City outcast to talk of a new deal
MANCHESTER CITY’S comeback king Yaya Toure has said he doesn’t know if this will be his last season at the club.
The 33-year-old has bounced back in great fashion this season, having been banished by manager Pep Guardiola at the start of the campaign following a row that involved his agent.
Even so, the Ivory Coast midfielder is still waiting to see if he will be offered a contract beyond the summer, with a lucrative move to China or the Middle East most likely if a deal to extend his seven-year stay at City isn’t forthcoming.
‘I don’t know about [being at City] next season. I don’t think about it. I am just about enjoying having my team-mates around.
‘You have guys like Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling who sometimes pass me and say. “Ah, uncle is on the phone”,’ he smiles. ‘When you see my career, it is one year, two years, three years maximum [at one club]. It is a long time.
‘What the fans give to me, I want to give it back so I will do all I can until the last minute and if I am done, when I am done, I am done.
‘It depends on the board because I don’t have anything to say. I just try to play positive and win trophies for the fans.’
City’s sports therapist Tom Shineton has helped Toure become fitter than he has been for a while.
‘In the past when you got to 33, you were done. Now with the science, players can go on much longer. You see guys like Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ryan Giggs, they are a big example,’ he said. ‘Competition between the players at the club is very important. I had that at Barcelona before. We won six trophies there. With a lot of competition for places we can achieve something important.’
Toure was sold by Guardiola at Barca but has always had a close relationship with City’s owners from Abu Dhabi. He scored the goal that won the 2011 FA Cup against Stoke, City’s first trophy for 35 years, and has also won the Premier League and League Cup twice.