Former player of Manchester City, FC Barcelona and AS Monaco, Yaya Touré still harbors some regrets, despite a career rich in success. In 2004, after two and a half years at KSK Beveren in Belgium, the former Ivorian midfielder, then aged 20, had the opportunity to join Paris Saint-Germain.
But the desire of the Skyblues legend came up against the harsh financial reality that governs football. In an interview with streamer Zack Nani for the Zack en Roue Libre podcast, Yaya Touré returned to this pivotal moment in his history.
“It’s like I have a knife to my throat”
While PSG planned to pay for his transfer in several monthly installments, another club, FK Metalurh Donetsk, was ready to pay in cash. “I didn’t want to go to Ukraine. For me, Paris Saint-Germain or another club in France was the best. Going to PSG, they took it away from me. I know the details, PSG wanted to pay in two installments, the Ukrainian club wanted to pay in cash”confided the three-time English champion.
“(…) The people who were close to me did not respect my wishes, it really upset me, I was very angry. I signed in Ukraine but it’s as if I had a knife to my throat: if I don’t go there I’m going back to Africa, and it was difficult for me to return to Africa. It remained stuck in my head throughout my career but it helped me enormously because it allowed me to progress, to develop”continued Yaya Touré.
He ultimately only stayed a year and a half at Metalurh before heading to Greece, to Olympiakos, in the summer of 2005. The child from Bouaké would then experience Ligue 1 from the 2006-07 season, after a transfer to AS Monaco.
