Yoyo Toure As Ivorian Stays at Manchester City

Manchester City seem to be doing their best to conclude all their transfer business early this summer what with the arrival of Bernardo Silva from Monaco last week and the more than likely capture of Ederson Moraes from Benfica for what is believed to be a world record fee for a Goalkeeper.

Those surely will not be the only new faces to arrive at The Etihad over the course of this transfer window while there has also been a number of departures with the quintet of Willy Caballero, Pablo Zabaleta, Jesus Navas, Gael Clichy and Bacara Sagna all being shown the exit door by Pep Guardiola.

And with that in mind it must come as some surprise that Guardiola has offered Yaya Toure a new deal and one that has been promptly signed by the Ivorian. The 34 year old has agreed to extend his stay in Manchester for at least one more season after putting pen to payer yesterday.

It comes as quite the turn around for Toure as at the beginning of the campaign just gone he was very much persona non grata in the eyes of Guardiola. The former Bayern and Barcelona boss fell out with the players agent Dimitri Seluk and subsequently left Toure out of the Champions League squad.

An apology from Seluk was finally forthcoming and that then meant that Toure’s exile was bought to an end. The former Olympiakos and Barcelona midfielder may have had to make do with a more marginalised role in the team this season but he has been a bedrock in the centre of the pitch when required.

With the legs of Toure not allowing him to make those bombarding runs that he once used to it means he now sits in a more deeper role which allows the four attacking midfielders ahead of him to go off and cause havoc safe in the knowledge that the back four is being ably protected.

City have a young and exciting team especially in their front five players but that does need to be counterbalanced by an experienced presence sitting behind them and it is here where Toure has played that role perfectly as his performances went some way to making sure Champions League qualification was assured for next season.

Toure will certainly the upcoming campaign in the first team but he will be keeping that spot warm until Ilkay Gundogan returns from long term injury. But with the club looking to compete on all fronts there is no doubting how important having the former African player of the year in the squad will be.