The Ivorian Yaya Toure is looking to make the blue side of Manchester the dominant force in football which would see them trump the long-standing presence the red side has enjoyed.
(Image credit: City Watch)
The 33-year-old has made history since signing with Man City in 2010, but is still hungry to see the club achieve greater success, and not solely in terms of winning trophies. Yaya Toure wants to see the Citizens become a bigger household name than their red counterparts Man United.
“Before when I talked, in New Jersey, when I signed for City, I came to this club to make history. I want this club to change, I want this club to be bigger than United. I know it’s going to be a lot of work, but that’s my dream.”
“I have been lucky to play at big clubs, Barcelona, Olympiakos, those teams were always used to being champions. But City, it was something different, something changing and I am happy now.”
Since moving to the Etihad from the Nou Camp in a £24 million deal in the summer of 2010, Yaya Toure has made a total of 275 appearances for the Sky Blues, during which time he has helped the club win two Premier League titles (2011/12 and 2013/14), an FA Cup (2011/12), two Football League Cups (2013/14 and 2015/16) and one FA Community Shield (2012).
Although Yaya Toure has generally been deployed as a defensive midfielder all throughout his career and even a defender at times during his three-year spell at Barcelona, his responsibilities lied away from scoring goals, and was instead tasked with creating chances and space for others to score. However, since his move to England over six years ago, the former Ivory Coast international has experienced a considerable surge in goalscoring stats, which to date counts 77 goals for Man City across all competitions.
During the title winning campaign of 2013/14, the midfielder managed to outshine some of his attacking teammates by finding the back of the net 24 times overall, 20 of which came in the English top flight as Man City lifted their second league title in three years.
Man City are currently in third position on the Premier League table with 36 points, while Liverpool are above them with only a point more. They’ve started off the season under new manager Pep Guardiola in great fashion by clinching 10 straights victories in all competitions, however since then they’ve blundered on several occasions, even against smaller sides.
But considering only 17 rounds have gone by in the Premier League, we’re backing Man City to be back in the title challenge with Chelsea, who are in first spot with 43 points at the moment.
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Pep Guardiola’s men will take on Hull City on Boxing Day (December 26) away from the Etihad, but Betsafe Sports remains confident they will overcome the Tigers considering their superior squad. Man City are the favourites to win the match 3/10 (1.30), while a draw between the two stands at an unlikely 49/10 (5.90). A victory for Mike Phelan’s men doesn’t seem to be on the cards with odds of 19/2 (10.50), despite the fact they’ll be playing at home.
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