“Winning Premier League best moment of my career” – Ex-Man City’s Yaya Toure

Photo Credit – Manchester City.

Former Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure has described winning the English Premier League title with Manchester City as the best moment of his career.

Toure joined the Citizens for five-years after a trophy laden career at La Liga giants, Barcelona for a fee of around £24 million in 2010, shrugging off a fierce competition from rivals, Manchester United to lift the EPL a year later.

The 41-year-old, who is currently the assistant coach of Saudi Arabia national team, admits that all the trophies he has won are important but singled out the EPL with City as the most refreshing.

“I was so proud, not the money, not other things but the trophies. You know we are able to have the Premier League [title] the small one. I have the small one and every day when I come back from training I look at it. I was saying to myself that I did it but in a different way and that’s what makes me so proud, it’s a huge achievement,” Yaya Toure told Rio Ferdinand’s YouTube channel.

“This is what I came for, to win the league. The first trophy [FA Cup] was very important as well but the premier league was very important for the build-up of whatever you can see in Manchester City now.

“[Definitely one of the best feelings of my career] because I won trophies in Greece, I won trophies in Barcelona but the Premier League one in 2011, it was that one you know.

“Because that lifted everything, that made the people who walked into the club believe and try to create that momentum again.”

Yaya’s 18-year career saw him play in Belgium for Beveren, now defunct Ukrainian club Metalurh Donetsk and later switched to Greece for Olympiacos. He had a stint at Ligue 1 club Monaco before signing for Barcelona in 2007 where he won the La Liga, Copa del Rey, Spanish Super Cup, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup.

His move to Manchester City in 2010 culminated in the FA Cup glory before lifting the Premier League the following year. He returned to Greece with Olympiacos before winning the Chinese Super League with Qingdao Huanghai.

He won the Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea with Ivory Coast in 2015, beating Ghana to the title after a dramatic 9-8 penalty shootout victory.