Jamie Carragher is of no opinion that it was Liverpool defender Kolo Toure who ended up changing the mind of Yaya Touré, who wanted to leave Manchester City in the summer.
Yaya Touré came in for a huge amount of criticism after his club’s failure to retain the league title. Touré was very close to joining Inter Milan after his mentor Roberto Mancini expressed his desire to be reunited with the Ivory Coast international. However, the move is thought to have failed at the last moment due to a change of mind by the player. This is believed to have come due to the words of Touré.
Carragher says that Touré, who has represented the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City in the Premier league, did not want his brother to leave the English top division at this stage in his career. Despite being 32 years old, Yaya Touré continues to be held as one of the best midfielders in the world. He is learning a mammoth £ 220,000 per week and this contract is unlikely to be matched by Inter Milan, who have been not doing well financially even after the arrival of new owners. After Kolo Toure himself came close to leaving Liverpool last summer, he has decided to stay be signing a new contract.
“I bumped into Kolo Toure at Liverpool’s academy during the summer and he had clearly played a part in changing his brother’s attitude. He’d told him to stay at City because he is a legend there and to leave after the poor season he had would taint his legacy,” said Carragher. Touré is on course to becoming a legend at City if he manages to bring the Champions League title to the club. They have made a fantastic start to the season with Touré scoring in the 3-0 win over West Brom.