Yaya Toure's Life and Career Journey in Football "He and his brother often earn their own money by working as shoeshineers"

Gnegneri Yaya Toure, was born on May 13, 1983 in Bouake, Ivory Coast. Toure was born to parents who worked as farmers. He spent his childhood in the city of Abidjan. Yaya Toure has an older brother named Kolo Toure. He became the second of nine children.

Yaya Toure was born to a very humble family. He and his brother often earn their own money by working as shoeshineers.

But at that time the income as shoeshine didn't really help the family's economy. Then, Yaya decided to switch professions as a footballer.

Early in his playing career, Toure appeared without wearing shoes. This was done because he did not have enough money to buy a pair of shoes. Still, Toure is excited. He even received a lot of attention from people and was called a natural talent for footballer.

After three years with a local club, Toure then joined the ASEC Mimosas youth academy in 1996 on the recommendation of his old mentor Patrick van Reijendam.

It should be noted, the academy is a place to produce great talents from the Ivory Coast. Call it Gervinho, Didier Zokora, Emmanuel Eboue, to Salomon Kalou.

At that time, there was a prominent figure at the ASEC academy. He is Jean-Marc Guillou. In 2001, Guillou invested heavily in a Belgian club, Beveren, with the aim of using the team to showcase Ivory Coast talent in the European league.

Toure then moved to Beveren in 2001. He was one of the many ASEC players who moved during that period. Until right in 2003, he was one of the 14 Ivory Coast players who entered the Beveren team.

At that time, Toure had a trial at Arsenal. He started a pre-season friendly against Barnet on 19 July, playing as a second striker. At that time, he received direct praise from Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger as an extraordinary talent. But when he wanted to sign the player's contract, Arsenal were constrained by Toure's work permit. Frustrated, Toure decided to move to Ukrainian club Metalurh Donetsk in December 2003, where he spent a year and a half.

Playing for a Ukrainian club is the perfect move for Toure. He played so brilliantly that he was hooked by the Greek giants Olympiacos. Toure joined Olympiakos in 2005. He even earned the nickname "the new Patrick Vieira".

Toure became an important part of the club and managed to donate the Greek Cup in the 2005/06 season.

From there, his talent began to pick up on European clubs. Finally, AS Monaco became the most fortunate because it successfully brought Toure. His arrival to Monaco began when he defended the Ivory Coast national team at the 2006 World Cup.

However, he had a difficult relationship with manager Laszlo Boloni. Toure claims Boloni refuses to play him in the midfield position of his choice.

But after Laurent Banide took charge of Monaco after Baloni's sacking, Toure started to gain more confidence. He became the team's key midfielder, helping the club get out of the relegation zone.

Due to his increasingly visible talent, Toure was attracted by clubs like FC Barcelona.

Finally, without further ado he solidified his choice to join the Catalan club.

Toure joined the Blaugrana for a fee of 10 million euros, equivalent to 155 billion rupiah. He then made his official debut on 26 August 2007 in the La Liga opener against Racing de Santander.

In the 2007 Joan Gamper Trophy match against Inter Milan, Toure scored his first goal for Barcelona in a 5–0 win. After that, Toure scored his first official goal for Barcelona in a La Liga match against Athletic Bilbao on 2 September 2007, in a 3–1 win.

Despite having started a good season, Toure's situation changed when Pep Guardiola was appointed to take charge of Barcelona's first team. Pep Guardiola prefers Sergio Busquets in the defensive role of Barcelona's midfield trio. Toure and Pep Guardiola do have a bad relationship. The two of them were involved in a cold war and often made scathing comments to each other.

In this regard, Toure feels that Pep has discriminated. The Spanish coach is considered to dislike black players. Toure even dared to guarantee that Pep would not dare rebuke players like Andres Iniesta.

Despite being part of Barcelona's extraordinary season which won six titles in one season, Toure finally left. On 2 July 2010, Toure signed a five-year contract with Premier League club Manchester City.

On July 28, Toure made his debut for City in a pre-season friendly against Club America, which City won 4-1 on penalties after a 1-1 draw. He then made his debut in a friendly match against Valencia and was named man of the match.

At that time, Toure came to continue the Mancini revolution who had coached the club from 2009. The choice was not wrong, Toure brought his quality and experience from Barcelona and brought The Citizens' midfield to life. Starting with the FA Cup title, Toure broke the wait for the Premier League title that was last won in the mid-1970s, when he was still named the First Division, in the 2011/12 season.

The title opened the eyes of English football lovers as well as rival teams. Sure enough, since then until now, Manchester City have always been at the top of the standings to fight for the Premier League title. Toure has always been in City's squad, and has continued to stay afloat despite rumors of leaving. In fact, he signed a season contract in June 2017. However, Pep Guardiola's arrival changed everything. Moreover, Toure is no longer young, which is 34 years old.

Yes, Guardiola wants high mobility in his team play, so he needs a lot of energy from his players to run. Players like David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Fernandinho, and Ilkay Gundogan, were preferred by Guardiola to maintain the dynamics of City's game from midfield. The concoction results with a combination of Guardiola's senior-young squad successfully won two titles, the League Cup and the Premier League.

There is no place for Toure to play in the Manchester City squad. Limited appearance. Toure has only appeared nine times in the Premier League and at the end of the 2017/18 season, the Ivorian star left the Etihad Stadium after eight years.

During his time at Man City, Toure made 229 appearances in the Premier League. During his eight years playing for Manchester Blue, Toure has won two Premier League titles, one FA Cup, two League Cups and one Community Shield.

After serving for a long time for City, Toure finally returned to Olympiacos. However, because he was deemed not to have a big enough impact, Toure's contract was finally terminated.

Having announced his retirement, Toure is now defending a Chinese club, Qingdao Huanghai FC.

Throughout his career in football, Toure is known as a friendly player. He is even called a devout Muslim. Despite being a star in Europe, Toure has never forgotten his family in Ivory Coast. He still visits there often and occasionally helps people in need.

In addition, he also took part in the campaign to save the elephant population in the area near where he lives.