‘They wanted to back me up’ - Yaya Toure reveals why he picked Man City over Chelsea
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Yaya Toure reveals why he picked Man City over Chelsea || Imago

‘They wanted to back me up’ - Yaya Toure reveals why he picked Man City over Chelsea

Stephen Oladehinde 09:16 - 24.04.2025

Manchester City legend Yaya Touré has revealed the reason he decided to snub Chelsea and sign for the Citizens.

Toure joined Man City in 2010 from Barcelona after seeing his playing time limited under Pep Guardiola.

The Ivorian was courted by top teams in Europe, with the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal looking to sign him.

However, he opted for Manchester City and went on to become one of the best midfielders in the Premier League 

Toure speaks on transfer decision

The 41-year-old has claimed that Man City were more convincing in their transfer approach than Chelsea.

Yaya Toure lifting the Premier League with Manchester City
Yaya Toure lifting the Premier League with Manchester City

Speaking on the ObiOne podcast, he said, “The only difference is that the purpose of Man City was higher and that's why they wanted to back me up, because he was looking at me like the one to make the difference in building the team. 

“The project of Man City was more because Chelsea was like, ‘You know what? Listen. Look, we have really big players. If you come, OK. If you don't come, OK.' 

“But City was like, ‘If you come, we do it. Come.' Because at that time it was Brian Mawood and those ones were like Willing to, yes, we have to get, yeah. If you get, yeah, oh, we do, yeah, that's for you, yeah.

“If you come in, we're going to bring this player. Bringing them means like you feel like you're part of something, you know, and it's difficult to say no.”

Yaya retired a legend in 2019, having won several trophies for both Man City and Barcelona in his career.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyzR1-R8Hxk
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