Gnégnéri Yaya Touré (born 13 May 1983), commonly known as Yaya Touré plays primarily as an attacking midfielder for both his national team and at Manchester city. Touré is renowned for combining great vision, passing ability, and physical power with technique. He is a versatile player, his aspiration as a youth was to play as a striker, however, his versatility has seen him play even as a central defender for barcelona in the 2009 UEFA champions league final.
He frequently plays as a box to box midfielder for club and country and often switches from defensive and offensive positions throughout matches. Touré began his playing career at Ivorian club Asec Mmiosas, where he made his debut at the age of 18. He has the priviledge of being decorated as the African footballer of the year back to back for 2011 and 2012. He is looking set to clinch that award for the third time running.
CLUB CAREER
ASEC MIMOSAS
Yaya joined Asec's youth academy in 1996 and soon his talent was recognised a few years later when he was snapped up by Beveren of Belgium.
METALURH DONETSK
At Beveren of Belgium, he excelled for two and a half years.Then, in 2003, he had a trial with Arsenal, He started in a match against Barnet, playing as a second striker. Manager Arsene Wenger recognised his talent but could not decide on his best position and described his performance against Barnet as "completely average." Wenger was still keen to sign the then-20-year old but Touré had difficulties in getting a work permit.
OLYMPIAKOS
Touré moved to Olympiakos in 2005. He was nicknamed "the new Patrick Vieira" by his older brother. His performances were impressive and attracted interest from many clubs.
MONACO
After representing Ivory Coast in the 2006 mundial, Yaya Touré was signed by French side AS Monaco in August 2006.Yaya had a difficult relationship with the incumbent manager, Laszlo Boloni, Yaya claimed that Bölöni refused to play him in his preferred midfield position. Bölöni was soon sacked with Monaco languishing second from bottom in the league. Thereafter, Yaya became an influential player in the second half of the season, scoring five times to help haul the club out of relegation difficulties.
FC BARCELONA
Touré joined Spanish side Barcelona for €10 million (£6.7 million) and made his official debut for the club on 26 August 2007.In 2007,Touré scored his first goal for Barcelona in a 5–0 victory against Inter Mila. He scored his first official goal with Barcelona in a La Liga match against Athletico Bilbao on 2nd September 2007, a 3–1 triumph for the Catalans. During the early stages of the 2008-2009 season, newly appointed manager Pep Guardiola favoured Sergio Busquets in the defensive role of Barcelona's midfield trio. In late June 2010, Barcelona confirmed that Touré would be allowed to leave the club in the summer.
MANCHESTER CITY
On 2 July 2010, Touré signed a five-year deal with Manchester City for a fee of around £24 million and was allocated squad number 42. Thus far, he is in his third season with the sky blue half of Manchester and the seasons have been nothing short of phenomenal. In his first season, he contributed massively to the club's title winning achievements scoring head banging goals during crucial games like the only goal at the FA cup final of 2011. Man city had to wait for 35 years for that trophy and it came via Yaya Toure's goal. City waited for 44 years to lay their hands on the league trophy as well thanks to Yaya Toure.
NET WORTH: goal.com reports Yaya Toure to be worth £16.5million (pounds) or $25.1million (dollars) or N4.03 billion (naira).he seats comfortably at the number 49 position.
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