Yaya delighted to dethrone United
YAYA TOURE will bid farewell to Manchester City this evening with mission accomplished: they have put their neighbours United in the shade.
Toure was one of the first A-list players City’s Abu Dhabi owners signed in a bid to overtake United at the top.
Eight years later they have done it, after three Premier League titles, three League Cups, one FA Cup, qualification for the Champions League in each of the past seven seasons and finishing above United six times.
Asked if City had knocked United off their perch in the same way their neighbours had dislodged Liverpool as the pre-eminent force in the Eighties and Nineties, Toure said: “Yes, definitely. When I came to City, for us to be a big club we had to put them in our shadow.
“United were in our way, we had to remove them. They were such a force and they won the league in my first season. We knew it would be difficult but beating them in the FA Cup semi-final that season was a big part of it.
“I said when I came I wanted to leave the club with big achievements. We made it and it was perfect. I needed to give
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REPORTS something back to the fans because to see them happy is unbelievable. They deserve it.
“They have been so long in the shadows of United and now they live in this city like they’re the kings. I feel good because I have contributed something.”
Toure scored the winner against United in that semifinal, as well as in the final against Stoke when City lifted their first major trophy for 35 years to press the button on what has become a silverware conveyor belt. “I was in touch with Rio Ferdinand after the semi-final,” he said. “When I scored that goal, of course he was angry but it was a message to them.”
Toure says his exploits for City, for whom he has appeared 315 times, scoring 82 goals, have silenced the critics who claim he was a mercenary who joined them from Barcelona for the money.
Ahead of City’s final home game against Brighton, he added: “Some people said I came here because I was more impressed by the money. But after we won the FA Cup, some started to shut their mouths.
“If someone had said eight years ago all this would happen, I’d have been happy. It is been a massive change for the club. Everybody wants to be at City now. I said to Garry Cook [City’s former chief executive, who signed him], ‘One day a lot of players are going to want to come to City. They will no longer say it’s a small club and they want to go to Chelsea or Arsenal’.”
Toure feels he still has not had the respect he deserves. He was pipped by Luis Suarez for both player of the year awards in his finest season, 2013-14, when City edged Liverpool for the title.
“Maybe when I’m retired,” he said. “Looking at what I have achieved and what I have done, I don’t think so. People don’t know how dedicated I was. That’s why I am a little bit sad because people put a lot of pressure on Paul Pogba – they want to compare him to me.”
Free agent Toure, who is 35 on Sunday, wants to play on – preferably in the Premier League – and insisted he will have no problem playing against City.
“I don’t want to face them but if I want to stay in the Premier League I’ll have to,” he said. “I’m a big fan of the Gladiator movie, so I’m a competitor and I’d have to beat them. But I’d never celebrate a goal.”
In recognition of Toure’s services to the club, chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has unveiled a ‘Yaya Toure’ mosaic beside the training pitch at the Etihad campus.