Arsene Wenger has confirmed the hilarious tale of Kolo Toure's trial at Arsenal is indeed true.
Toure was a Premier League winner and a vital part of Arsenal's 'Invincibles' but he made a huge impact upon his arrival at the club.
In fact, it's a miracle that he wasn't immediately given the boot after what happened in one of his first training sessions with the Gunners.
The story goes that Toure was told not to tackle in training but ignored orders. - making a horror, red-card worthy challenge on talisman Thierry Henry and following that up by taking out their other key player, Dennis Bergkamp.
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And then to top it all off, Toure then produced a two-footed tackle to take out Wenger, who had to go the medical room and have an ice pack on his ankle.
Poor Kolo thought he'd messed up his big opportunity but to his surprise, Wenger loved the desire he displayed and signed him up a day later.
Former Arsenal midfielder Ray Parlour had told the tale before and given his version of what happened - and now Wenger has confirmed the story played out exactly as been reported.
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"Yes, he tackled us but it was more for reasons of enthusiasm than aggressiveness," Wenger said in a new interview with 11Freunde.
"He was keen to show how much he wanted to stay. I had to go to the doctor, but my injury wasn't too serious.
"I signed him the next day because of his desire, his hunger and his physical strength. He was a monster."
Kolo's younger brother Yaya Toure was also infamously on trial with Arsenal and started a pre-season friendly against Barnet, only for the club to elect against signing the Ivorian, who went on to star for Barcelona and Manchester City.
Perhaps it was because he didn't clatter enough important first-teamers in a no-tackling training session.
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