March 19, 1986. A cursed day for FC Nantes. Beaten 3-0 on the Inter Milan pitch, the Canaries seem capable of reversing the situation in the return match. At the break, the Nantais lead 3-1 but shortly after returning from the locker room, the dream turns into a nightmare: José Touré is seriously injured, Michel Der Zakarian is sent off and the Milanese take the opportunity to equalize (3-3) and validate their qualification for the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup.
Beaten by PSG in the championship, FC Nantes is preparing to fall into line. José Touré will never be the same again. Victim of a ruptured cruciate ligament after a bad reception, his dream of the World Cup, where he was to accompany Dominique Rocheteau on the front of the French attack, was initially dashed.
Decided to leave FC Nantes, the ‘Brazilian’ also saw Matra Racing, with which he was to sign up, and PSG, who had been courting him for three seasons, suddenly turning their backs on him. The native of Nancy finally joined Bordeaux with the difficult task of making Alain Giresse forget alongside Jean-Marc Ferreri or Philippe Vercruysse.
Excesses of all kinds
If he seems to have regained his level of play under the orders of Aimé Jacquet and participates in the conquest of the title of champion of France, his excesses of all kinds off the field precipitate his downfall. In the summer of 1988, he was transferred to AS Monaco for 21 million francs and a record salary of 700,000 francs per month, but his dissolute life, with nights out, condemned his career and the Principality club fired him just one year after his arrival.
José Touré is only 28 years old but his career is already over. What follows is a real descent into hell. The former Nantes resident drowns himself in alcohol and cocaine. Sentenced to four months in prison for “battery and assault on a public official”, he then suffered a serious domestic accident while crossing a glass roof in his Bordeaux apartment.
Ruined, José Touré is abandoned by the world of football, except for Jean-Claude Darmon who hires him for 5,000 euros a month. Subsequently, Canal+ will make him one of its star consultants.
