Would love a return to the Premier League, admits Yaya Toure
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Yaya Toure has revealed that would love to return to England as a player/coach for any club in and around the top tier. The former Manchester City and Olympiacos star won three Premier League titles with the Cityzens and the CAF African Player of the year award before leaving the club.
Even at the age of 36 Yaya Toure’s desire to play football has been brilliant with the Ivorian helping China League One side Qingdao Huanghai earn promotion to the Chinese Super League. The former Manchester City may not have played as much as he likes but Toure played an immense role in Huanghai’s promotion campaign with the club earning their promotion to the top flight as early as October.
But the former Barcelona and Manchester City star went on to admit that despite everything in China that he would love a back move to the Premier League in the near future. The 36-year-old also went on to admit that he still has a lot to offer the league especially as a player-coach and it all depends on the team that does want to sign him.
"I would love it but it depends on which kind of team. We will see because sometimes in Europe people look at ages in a different way - it's not about that. It depends on the club and what they want to achieve. I don't want to go too far and propose myself but I just want them to give me a chance, we will see,” he told Sky Sports.
"In my mind I give myself one or maybe two years maximum playing football, after that I want to enjoy myself with my family and try to work in other ways. I want to be proud of myself. As a footballer sometimes when you stop it early it is because people are trying to stop you, it's not coming from your heart, it's complicated.”
The VAR (Video Assistant Referee) controversy has dominated the Premier League ever since its introduction, with players, managers, critics and fans all unhappy with the way decisions have been made. However, because of all the issues, the chief of referees has called for a meeting to help change things and Yaya Toure went on to admit that changes need to be made to how the VAR is used going forward.
"People have been talking a lot about this, there is a lot of confusion. The only good thing I like about VAR is the offside line. Red cards and penalties should be left to the referee. For me it is killing the game, we need to take it out and leave it to the referee. When I was watching the Liverpool vs Manchester City game I was telling my friends 'he's not going to give a penalty against Trent Alexander-Arnold' because it was Liverpool and Anfield and it is too difficult.
"I've experienced it myself and it is very difficult. When we talk about the game on Sunday, it was a clear penalty. If he doesn't touch the ball it is going to Raheem and he can score. It's complicated but we have to move forward,” concluded the midfielder.
