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Kolo Toure Reveals He Thought His Arsenal 'Dream Was Over' After Taking Out Arsene Wenger

Kolo Toure Reveals He Thought His Arsenal 'Dream Was Over' After Taking Out Arsene Wenger

"Well of course you're always scared if you tackle the manager of the club."

Nasir Jabbar

Nasir Jabbar

Kolo Toure has opened up on THAT Arsenal training session.

Arsene Wenger offered the Ivory Coast defender a trial at Arsenal, and he made an instant impression.

A story in John Cross' book on Wenger, brought to our attention by Oliver Kay from The Times, tells the tale of Toure causing mayhem in training.

Toure was told not to tackle but he ignored orders and produced a crunching tackle on both Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp before flying into Wenger.

Image: PA
Image: PA
Image: PA
Image: PA

So, he not only took out Arsenal's two best players but also the gaffer.

The boss had to go to the medical room and have an ice pack on his ankle.

Poor Toure thought his dream was over yet to his surprise, Wenger loved his desire and snapped him up on a permanent deal.

"It's true, absolutely," Toure said on his infamous training ground incident with Wenger. "Did I think my dream was over? Well of course you're always scared if you tackle the manager of the club.

"I haven't done it on purpose, but that kind of thing can happen.

"Training was really intense - sometimes more so than matches. It was really, really challenging.

"Everybody wanted to win every game and occasionally there would be fights between the players. The team was full of spirit and winners.

"Martin Keown was really competitive but Henry was similar, he wanted to win every game. He was fuming when he was losing games at training."

Image: PA
Image: PA

Wenger's decision to table Toure a contract was fully justified following his incredible service for the Gunners.

He spent seven glorious seasons in North London, winning the FA Cup twice and the Premier League in the 2003/04 term where he was a part of the unprecedented 'Invincibles' side that went the whole campaign unbeaten.

Featured Image Credit:

Topics: Football News, Football, Dennis Bergkamp, Arsene Wenger, Premier League, Arsenal, thierry henry

Nasir Jabbar is a journalist at SPORTbible. He graduated from Bath Spa University with a BA in Media Communications. He's a combat sport aficionado, and has contributed to MMA websites AddictedMMA and CagePotato. Nasir has covered some of the biggest fights, while interviewing the likes of Conor McGregor, Darren Till, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. He's also an avid Bristol City fan.

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