Yaya plans to play on for another five years
YAYA TOURE is planning for five more years in football as he has no plans on bringing his glittering career to a premature end.
After being exiled from the team for three months at Manchester City earlier this season, it’s as if “Uncle” Yaya has never been away.
He has resumed his role in central midfield and has looked leaner and meaner under Pep Guardiola than in the latter part of Manuel Pellegrini’s reign.
The Ivorian is currently 33, but the magic number he has in mind is 38. And there is no reason why Yaya can’t carry on.
“In the past you think you are done,” he says.
“Now with the science and the guys who are learning, players can go on much longer.
“Players are more responsible and more professional with how they work. There is better recovery.
“It’s all credit to the guys who work harder and try to extend the fitness of players and their career in the game.
“You see players like Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Ryan Giggs. Those guys are a big example. We try to do the same, but it is very hard.
“Of course you have lads like Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling who are younger. They look at me and call me ‘Uncle’. Sometimes when I pass to them, they say: ‘Uncle is on the phone’, but it’s all good!”
But where Toure continues his career is the big question.
His contract at City runs out this summer and he is certainly showing his current employers and any potential suitors what he can still do.
Having won five trophies in his six-and-a-half years at City, his place in the club’s folklore is assured.
And if this is the long farewell, it could still be a glorious one for Toure and City.
City remain in the hunt for the top four in the Premier League, have a 5-3 lead over Monaco after their pulsating first leg of their last-16 match in the Champions League and face Huddersfield at home on Wednesday in their FA Cup fifth round replay.
“I don’t know if I’ll be here next year and I don’t think about it,” states Toure.
“I just enjoy having my team-mates around.
“When you see my career it has been one, two or three years maximum at a club before now. It is a long time.
“What the fans give to me here, I want to give it back. I will do all I can until the last minute and when I am done, I am done.
“My future depends on the board. I don’t have anything to say. I just try to play positively and win trophies for the fans.”