Premier League icons - Yaya Touré

YAYA TOURE
Games/Goals
Manchester City: 230/62
Premier League titles (3): 2011/12, 2013/14, 2017/18

A ‘Rolls Royce’ of a midfielder, Toure is one of the best ever to grace the Premier League, providing almost 100 goal contributions during eight seasons at The Etihad.

The Ivory Coast international, who is the young brother of former Arsenal and Manchester City defender Kolo Toure, was already an established star when he signed for City from Barcelona in 2010 for a fee estimated to be £24-million.

Given a more attacking role under coach Roberto Mancini, he reveled in it and would go on to score 62 goals and provide 32 assists during his time at the club.

He netted the decisive goal in the 2011 FA Cup final as they beat Stoke City, ending their 35-year wait for a major trophy, a moment that made him an instant crowd favourite.

The following season he was crowned African Footballer of the Year and lived up to that honour by playing a major role in helping City to the Premier League title with their dramatic last day victory over Queens Park Rangers.

His time at City was characterised by superb individual performances where he seemingly beat the opposition on his own, helping the club to two more league titles in 2013/14 and 2017/18.

The first of those was his best scoring campaign when he netted 20 Premier League goals, a remarkable tally for a midfielder, with many special strikes in there.

Toure had a fallout with manager Pep Guardiola during the 2015/16 season that kept him sidelined for part of that campaign, but he eventually returned after issuing an apology to the manager.

He did leave the club at the end of the 2017/18 season, signing briefly for Greek side Olympiacos before a move to China.