If Yaya Toure is to leave Manchester City this season, it would bring the curtain down on a wonderful period for both the club and the player.

When former chief executive Garry Cook brought the Ivorian to East Manchester for £24 million back in 2010, City were yet to shake off their tag as underachievers. They were two years into Sheikh Mansour’s ownership, but they had won nothing. City’s squad had improved, but it lacked the spark needed to establish a winning mentality, that world-class player with drive and leadership who could provide match-winning qualities.

Toure’s arrival was the catalyst for a period of huge success. City won the 2011 FA Cup, ending a 35-year wait for a major piece of silverware, before a Premier League triumph 12 months later saw them win their first title in 44 years. Since then, an FA Cup final, another league title and two League Cups have followed. Toure has been central to all of it.

And it isn’t just his goals and big-game credentials that have made the difference. Toure, for the four-year period between 2010 and 2014, was probably the finest midfielder in Europe. Who else could match his unique mix of attributes? Power, pace, the ability to beat players, goals and incredibly accurate passing—he brought so much to the side.

No other player in the City squad can match his big-game record. His winner in the 1-0 win over Manchester United in the 2011 FA Cup semi-final was perhaps the most important. That was the day the City fans began to believe Mansour’s takeover was the real deal, that the club could put their past behind them and become a force in English football.

He followed that up with the winner in the final a few weeks later as the banner at Old Trafford mocking City’s wait for a trophy was ripped down. Two goals in the penultimate match of the following season away at Newcastle United were crucial in City’s title win under Roberto Mancini.

His 30-yard bender in the 2014 League Cup final got City back into the game. He scored seven in the last nine games of City’s 2013/14 title-winning season—goals that were crucial to the Blues leapfrogging Liverpool. Even this season, with his powers on the decline, he hobbled up at Wembley to score the winning penalty in the League Cup final against Liverpool—the man for the big occasion. 

It’s an enviable record. Few players reach his level of influence. His remit when he was brought in from Barcelona was to help the club win trophies. Talk about delivering emphatically.

But now the time feels right for him to leave. At 33, he can no longer dominate matches like he once did. He has periods where he proves he remains capable of exerting influence, but the days of no side being able to touch him are over.

Inter Milan are known admirers and could make a move soon, with head coach Mancini understandably keen on a reunion. “The coach knows him very well and he’s a champion, but it’s too soon to tell,” Inter vice-president Javier Zanetti told Mediaset (via ESPN FC). “First we need to know what we want to do. It’s going to be a busy summer of work for the whole club.”

It’s a move that would make sense. The Italian league is slower and less physically demanding. Toure’s vision and passing would see him excel in Serie A.

If he does go, he will do so having been vastly underappreciated. For whatever reason, Toure isn’t universally valued, despite his brilliance over a sustained period. Perhaps the greatest midfielder in the Premier League era, he is often overlooked when experts discuss the very best.

His agent has been an annoying distraction, and he has undoubtedly undergone a decline. But make no mistake: Yaya Toure is a Manchester City legend.

 

Rob Pollard is Bleacher Report’s lead Manchester City correspondent and will be following the club from a Manchester base throughout the 2015/16 season. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @RobPollard_.

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