Kolo Toure has won three league titles, two FA Cups and one Africa Cup of Nations. He
has over 500 club appearances and 120 international caps to his name. Those bare facts make up
a career that most would be utterly delighted with, but combined with a style of play that
you might call 'enthusiastic', he was one of the most likeable Premier League players
of the last 15 years. Born in 1981, Toure started his career at
ASEC Mimosas, in the Ivory Coast capital of Abidjan. Toure is one of a long line of players
to come from the club, such as Gervinho, Salomon Kalou, Boubacar Barry and of course his brother,
Yaya. In early 2002, he travelled to London for a trial with Arsenal, a trial that was
a little more eventful than most. In journalist John Cross's book about Arsene
Wenger's tenure at the club, Ray Parlour tells a story about how Toure began charging around
the training ground. “I remember the ball was rolled into Thierry Henry and Kole Toure,
from nowhere, smashed into him from behind,” said Parlour. It was a terrible tackle, a
red card in a normal game, and our best player was rolling around.
“Wenger was shouting: ‘Kolo, what are you doing? Don’t tackle!’ The next minute,
the ball was into Dennis Bergkamp and Kolo did exactly the same. Wenger said: ‘No more
tackling’.“Next thing you know, Kolo Toure took Wenger out with a two-footed tackle!
All you could hear was Wenger screaming.” Parlour went to the physio's room, where Wenger
had an ice pack on his injured ankle, to make the case for the young player, and reassure
Wenger that Toure was probably just being over-enthusiastic. He need not have worried.
“We're signing him tomorrow,” said Wenger. “I like his desire.”
Toure made his debut in the 2002 Community Shield, and initially performed a utility
role, but it wasn't until the following season that he really made an impact at the club.
With only Martin Keown, who was 37, and Pascal Cygan, who was Pascal Cygan, as alternative
partners for Sol Campbell, Toure was moved to the centre of defence and it was there
he stayed for the season. He played in 37 games of the unbeaten league season, as Arsenal
became the first team in over 100 years to achieve that feat in the English top flight.
"Kolo is genuine, honest, highly motivated, good at work every day," Wenger said of his
player. "The problem was to get him off the pitch, it was not to put him on.” Toure
established himself as one of the better defenders in the Premier League over the next few seasons,
eventually being named Arsenal vice-captain. He scored the goal that eventually sent Arsenal
to the Champions League final in 2006, which they lost 2-1 to Barcelona.
By 2009, his form had been up and down, and after a training ground argument with William
Gallas, he asked to leave Arsenal. “One of us had to leave, and it was me,” said
Toure later. He moved to Manchester City for a fee of £16million, joining Emmanuel Adebayor
in moving north. It was around this time that Toure also appeared
on the front pages of newspapers, after reportedly having an affair with a young model during
which he told her he was a car salesman from Ghana called Francois. It was only after a
friend of the woman recognised him, and she took a photo of him peering out from behind
a shower curtain, that his ruse was uncovered. On the pitch, Toure was appointed City captain
by manager Mark Hughes, and was a key part of their team as they established themselves
as a challenger for a Champions League place. Yet when Hughes left and Roberto Mancini took
over, Toure became more marginalised, less of a first-team player.
After a game against Manchester United in 2011, when Toure was an unused substitute,
he was called for a random drug test. He failed it, blaming the result on some diet pills
given to him by his wife. He was banned for six months, which stretched into the following
season and was at least part of the reason that he was only a bit-part player in the
team that so dramatically won the league title. When Sergio Aguero scored that 94th minute
goal against QPR and everyone around him was losing their minds in celebration, Toure could
be seen shuffling around the touchline with his hands in his jacket pocket, a look of
quiet satisfaction on his face. He remained a squad player in the following
season, before moving to Liverpool on a free transfer. There he became something of a cult
hero, not a first-team regular but popular nonetheless. In March 2015, he came on as
a substitute against Manchester City, making it the first ever time he had faced his brother
Yaya in a competitive game. Then in 2016 he made what would be the last
move of his career, spending a year at Celtic as they went unbeaten in the Scottish Premiership,
the second such season of his career. He announced his retirement this summer, and joined Celtic
as a coach. “Even when he was a baby, we knew there
was something different about him,” said his brother, Yaya. Different, enthusiastic,
eccentric: maybe he was all of those things, which is part of what made him one of the
most endearing players
of the era...