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Paul Merson's 42-Word Column On Yaya Toure When He Signed For Manchester City In 2010 Is Priceless

Paul Merson's 42-Word Column On Yaya Toure When He Signed For Manchester City In 2010 Is Priceless

"The Ivorian is an average player who's rumoured to be on £200,000 a week..."

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare

Yaya Toure will go down in Manchester City history after helping the club lift three Premier League titles, three League Cups and an FA Cup during a successful eight-year spell at The Etihad.

The Ivorian, who turns 38 today, will also go down in history as one of the all-time great Premier League midfielders after arriving from Barcelona for a reported fee of around £24 million.

But his arrival in Manchester was met with mixed reviews. In fact, Paul Merson's infamous quote about Toure when he first signed for the club still gets spoken about to this day.

Image: PA
Image: PA

Back in 2010, the pundit was tasked with showering us all with his insight and knowledge on summer transfers.

And the real gem came when discussing former Barcelona midfielder Toure.

Merson describes the Ivorian as "an average player" that didn't have goalscoring or goal-creating abilities in his locker.

He then told us how he was nothing more than an "OK holding midfield player" who didn't add anything that Gareth Barry, Patrick Vieira and Nigel De Jong, all playing for City at the time, didn't already bring to the table

Paul Merson gives his analysis on the arrival of Yaya Toure from Barcelona in 2010.
Paul Merson gives his analysis on the arrival of Yaya Toure from Barcelona in 2010.

It's fair to say that on this occasion, Merse was a tad wrong with his predictions.

Toure thrived at the Etihad, arguably becoming the club's greatest ever player while earning a reputation for producing big moments in big games.

The FA Cup semi-final and final in 2011 to give City their first trophy in 35 years, for example, is a standout moment, and so was his brace against Newcastle to basically hand them the Premier League title in 2012.

Or that decisive spot-kick against Liverpool in the 2015/16 EFL Cup final.

There are so many instances where he rose to the occasion.

Image: PA
Image: PA

Perhaps his best season came in 2013/14 under Manuel Pellegrini. He netted 20 Premier League goals from midfield, as well as chipping in with nine assists.

Toure will surely go down as one of the Premier League's greatest midfielders.

Thoughts? Let us know in the comments.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Manchester City, Football, Paul Merson, Premier League, Yaya Toure

Jack Kenmare is a writer at SPORTbible. He's interviewed some of the biggest names in sport, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pele, Carles Puyol and Tim Henman. He dabbles in all things sport but football is his biggest passion. He was once hit in the head by a wayward strike from Nicky Butt and lived to tell the tale.

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@jackkenmare_