Yaya Toure: Ex-Man City star announces retirement with plans to begin coaching career
The Ivorian brings an end to a 18-year career and has not played since ending a short spell with Olympiacos last year
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Yaya Toure has announced his retirement from playing and is now ready to become a coach, his agent has claimed.
Greek club Olympiacos terminated the Ivorian’s contract in December after joining the Greek giants earlier that year following eight years with Man City.
But Dimitri Seluk has now clarified his client’s future with the 35-year-old set to remain in the game.
Selcuk told Russian website Sport 24: “Yaya has decided to end his career as a champion. The farewell match which Manchester City gave him was, in principle, the real end of his playing career, not only in that team, but in general.
“Yaya is one of the best players in Africa and had one of the brightest careers in the history of African football, so should leave football at its peak. We talked for a long time on this topic.
“Of course every footballer wants to play as long as possible and in terms of his physical condition Yaya could do this at a sufficiently high level for another five years.”
Toure played 316 times for City, scoring 79 goals and winning three Premier League titles, two League Cups, and an FA Cup.
Selcuk said Toure, who also won the Champions League with his previous club Barcelona, decided to end a brief association with Olympiacos after they reneged on a promise to give him a coaching role.
Selcuk added: “I’m sure that two years after Yaya gets the Pro coaching license, he will head one of the serious clubs and achieve great success in the coaching field. Now he has already begun to take steps in this direction.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments