Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Pep Guardiola has dedicated Manchester City’s final home game of their championship-winning season to Yaya Toure, a player he has described as one of the most important figures in the club’s history.
The Ivory Coast international, who turns 35 on the final day of the season on Sunday, will start a Premier League game for the first time in the current campaign when City play Brighton at the Etihad.
It is the manager’s way of allowing Toure to bid farewell to a club he joined when Guardiola sold him to City from Barcelona for £24 million ($32 million, 27 million euros) in 2010.
Since then, Toure has been an integral part of City’s success, fuelled by the wealth of their Abu Dhabi owners, and has collated three league titles, two League Cups and one FA Cup winner’s medal.
That body of work has led Guardiola to describe Toure as “an extraordinary person” and guarantee him an emotional farewell on Wednesday.
“He has been big,” said Guardiola. “Football players make the clubs bigger and bigger and bigger and without doubt he was, is, one of the most important players in our history.
“He helped this club make a step forward and hopefully we can make a good game for him.
The post Guardiola dedicates Brighton game to departing Toure appeared first on World Soccer Talk.
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