Ivory Coast Star Yaya Toure recalls his brother’s impact on his career

by Austin Ditlhobolo

Tuesday Feb 06, 2018. 09:00

Ivory Coast international Yaya Toure has recalled the impact of his brother Kolo, who is a retired defender, on his football career.


“When I was young I was a big, big dreamer. I think in the beginning it was my brother [Kolo] and sometimes we would work together in the morning, early at 5am I remember,” Toure told DailyStar.

“He was waking me up to try and go outside to do some jogging. At 5am it was dark in Africa and I said: ‘What are you waking me up for?’

“He said we had to go jogging. I said if you want to touch the ball, too, it was OK but it’s dark. How can we touch the ball in the dark?

Yaya, who was part of the Ivory Coast team that won the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) title, has had a successful career having won the Uefa Champions League honour in 2009, including two Spanish La Liga titles with FC Barcelona before moving to England where he won the two English Premier League titles with Manchester City.

“And he said to me, you have to listen and you have to learn because with the ball it is interesting but without the ball it is something else.

“You have to manage both, he said, and you will be better than me. I tried to follow him and I have. I am really grateful for what he did for me.”

Toure has battled for regular game time this season having played only 11 games for City this season including five Premier League appearances and two Champions League games.