Yaya Toure

Yaya Toure is an Ivorian professional footballer, who was born in Bouake in 1983. His older brother Kolo also represents the Ivory Coast national team. Together they have established themselves as one of the best sibling partnerships in world football.

Toure currently resides in England where he plays for Manchester City in the Premier League. He has twice been named African Football of the Year, first in 2011, and then again one year later.

The formidable midfielder's career began at ASEC Mimosas when he joined their youth academy in 1996. After five years at the club he made his first step towards becoming a professional footballer by moving to Europe to Belgian club Beveren. 

Toure took a while to adapt to European football, but in 2003 he was looking for a move to a bigger club. This led to him having a trial at Premier League outfit Arsenal. Unfortunately for him, manager Arsene Wenger was not especially impressed by his performance, which saw him step out in a friendly against Barnet, and was disinclined to sign him up. The Ivorian was subsequently snapped up by Metalurh Donetsk, a Ukraine-based club.

Following a brief spell in Greece playing for Olympiacos, he moved to France and was signed by Monaco. Toure had impressed the Ligue One club at the 2006 World Cup when representing Ivory Coast. He joined his new side ahead of the 2006/2007 campaign. After a slow start to the season, Monaco found themselves in a relegation battle in the second half of the campaign. The Ivorian was able to score some crucial goals to help save them from the dreaded drop.

The big break in Toure's career came in the summer of 2007 when he moved to Spanish giants Barcelona. He spent four years in Spain and won La Liga twice, the Copa del Rey, Supercoda de Espana, the Champions League in 2009, the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup.

Manchester City paid £24 million for the services of the midfield man in 2010 and he played a big part in helping them win their first ever Premier League title in 2012.
Toure is set to play in his third World Cup for Ivory Coast in 2014. He has represented his country on 82 occasions, encompassing five African Cup of Nations tournaments, their best record in this tournament was finishing as runners-up in 2006 and 2012.

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