Marseille urged to go for Man City veteran Yaya Toure

France World Cup winner Christophe Dugarry is tipping Manchester City veteran Yaya Toure for a move to Olympique Marseille.

New OM owner Frank McCourt has stated he'd like to add a star name to the squad.

And Dugarry recommends Toure: "They need a creative player.

"They need a guy in the heart of the game. He (Toure) has the power game and can improve them. He would be good for Olympique Marseille.

"Yaya Toure doesn't play for Manchester City and is a French player (sic), so why not?"

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'Yaya Toure can sign a pre-contract agreement with clubs abroad'

Yaya Toure's agent Dimitri Seluk says the Manchester City midfielder "can sign a pre-contract agreement with clubs abroad in January" and told the Premier League club they "will lose a lot of millions of supporters" for dropping his client. 

City left Toure out of their Champions League squad last week as Pep Guardiola decided he did not need the Ivory Coast star for the upcoming games against Barcelona, Celtic and Borussia Moenchengladbach. 

"They will lose a lot of millions of supporters from Africa because of this decision from Guardiola," Seluk said to the Daily Mail. 

"Now they will support Manchester United. A lot of people in Africa say they will never see any more matches of City on TV."

Toure, 33, has been out of favour since Guardiola's arrival at the Etihad Stadium. The midfielder has only played one game, the second leg of the Champions League qualifier against Steaua Bucharest. 

Despite his lack of minutes, Seluk says Toure will fulfill his contract -- he earns 220,000 pounds a week -- before probably moving abroad next summer.

"Yaya in January can sign a pre-contract agreement with clubs abroad," he continued. 

"He will have many offers from clubs. China and America of course, they want him, but we will have a lot of offers from England and Europe.

"He is in very good shape, very good condition, I think he lost seven kilograms. Maybe that's not good enough for Guardiola, but then Zlatan Ibrahimovic wasn't good enough for him [at Barcelona].

"In January we will see. It is three months to wait -- no problem. Yaya is a very professional guy."

Liverpool back in the race for Turkish ace nicknamed new ‘Yaya Toure’

Liverpool have rekindle their interest in the Turkish internatonal midfielder Ozan Tufan according to Fanatik.

The daily Turkish sports paper states that Liverpool are preparing a bid for the 21-year-old who joined Fenerbahce from Bursaspor last summer. Fanatik go onto say that Liverpool’s rival Everton are also in the race to sign the young midfielder.

Fenerbahce manager Vitor Pereira state that Ozan Tufan reminded him of Manchester City’s star midfielder Yaya Toure. 

“He still has a lot to learn and that is my job but the world will soon have a central midfielder on the level of Yaya Toure on their hands,”Pereira said speaking on Sport Tv following Turkey’s 2-0 victory over the Czech Republic.

Tufan has established himself as one of the most promising midfielders in Turkish football and is represented by the same agent as Arda Turan.

The 21-year-old who joined Fenerbahce from Bursaspor for £5.95 million, provided three assists and scored one goal in 46 appearances in all competitions for Fenerbahce last season.

Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure ready to see out final year of his Etihad contract

City accept few other clubs will be willing or able to match Toure's £220,000-a-week wages, with the 33-year-old now likely to stay put

Yaya Toure is ready to dig in his heels and see out the final year of his deal at Manchester City.

Toure was expected to be one of the highest-profile casualties under new boss Pep Guardiola, who managed him at Barcelona.

But Toure is determined to see out the final year of his contract with City, after rejecting offers to play in Italy and China next season.

City accept few other clubs will be willing or able to match Toure's £220,000-a-week wages, with the 33-year-old now likely to stay put.

Incoming: Guardiola's arrival was expected to see Toure's City stint come to an end

Guardiola sold Toure from Barca to City for £24m in 2010, and while the midfielder's influence waned last season, he feels he can still fulfil a role.

But Toure's first-team chances look limited at City if he stays, following the arrival of Ilkay Gudongan from Borussia Dortmund, and with Guardiola wanting to buy another central midfielder this summer.

Arsenal deals Manchester City’s top four hopes massive blow with late equaliser to draw at Etihad Stadium

ALEXIS Sanchez’s 68th-minute equaliser dealt a potentially fatal blow to Manchester City’s Champions League qualification hopes as Arsenal claimed a 2-2 draw at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

In his final home game as City manager before handing over to Pep Guardiola, Manuel Pellegrini saw Kevin De Bruyne put the hosts in front after Sergio Aguero’s early opener was cancelled out by Olivier Giroud.

But Sanchez’s strike means that Pellegrini is now dependent on fifth-place Manchester United dropping points in their last two games — or Arsenal losing at home to Aston Villa — if his side are to finish in the top four.

Having seen his team tamely concede defeat against Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals on Wednesday, it threatens to be a miserable end to Pellegrini’s three-year tenure, which has yielded the 2013-14 Premier League title and two League Cups.

United visit West Ham United on Tuesday before finishing the season at home to Bournemouth and if they win both games, and Arsenal avoid defeat against bottom club Villa, Guardiola will begin life at City as a Europa League manager.

For Arsenal, victory over Villa in next Sunday’s final game will secure a Champions League berth for the 19th season running and they could yet finish above local rivals Tottenham Hotspur, who they trail by two points.

But there was a concern for Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, and his England counterpart Roy Hodgson, in the shape of a first-half injury to Danny Welbeck.

The match programme contained a message from Emirati club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak thanking Pellegrini and hailing his “engaging approach, integrity and humility”.

In his own notes, Pellegrini describing managing City as a “privilege” and said that he would “take nothing but great memories” to his next job.

City failed to register a single shot on target in their meek 1-0 Champions League semi-final defeat at Real Madrid, but after a sprightly start they went ahead in the eighth minute.

Jesus Navas’s cross from the right was nodded back and down by Fernandinho and Aguero eluded Mohamed Elneny before driving a left-foot shot into Petr Cech’s bottom-left corner.

— Bony hits bar —

Arsenal had barely set foot in City’s half, but within two minutes their former player Gael Clichy offered them an attacking foothold with a misjudged back header that bobbled past a scrambling Joe Hart, hit the post and went behind for a corner.

Eliaquim Mangala, deputising for injured skipper Vincent Kompany, misjudged Elneny’s delivery and Giroud headed home his first goal in 16 league outings.

Arsenal were quickly deflated again, however, as an apparent knee injury to Welbeck saw the England forward walk straight off the pitch and down the tunnel, with Jack Wilshere coming on and Alex Iwobi moving wide.

Arsenal were already missing German playmaker Mesut Ozil due to what the club said was a “slight hip injury”.

After warning shots from Jesus Navas and Fernandinho, City went ahead in the 51st minute.

De Bruyne brought down a bouncing ball just inside the Arsenal half and held off Hector Bellerin before surging towards goal, cutting inside Elneny and guiding a low shot past Cech’s outstretched right hand.

But the introduction of Theo Walcott for Iwobi provided an injection of dynamism to Arsenal’s attack and after he had lofted a shot wide from Giroud’s lay-off, the visitors equalised through Sanchez.

Picking the ball up deep, the Chilean forward rolled a pass forward to Giroud, who brilliantly steered it back into his path, and Sanchez powered through a gaping hole in the City defence to clip a shot past Hart.

Pellegrini sent for the cavalry, with Raheem Sterling, Yaya Toure and Wilfried Bony all joining the fray, but the closest his side came to a winner was a deft Bony volley that crashed against the bar.

Pellegrini, who bows out at Swansea City next Sunday, covered his face with his hands in anguish.

Man City's Yaya Toure withdraws from Ivory Coast squad with heel injury

Manchester City have suffered another injury setback with Yaya Toure pulling out of the Ivory Coast's game with Sudan on Friday.

Ivorian Football Federation officials told the Ivorian Press Agency (AIP) that the 32-year-old had a suffered a recurrence of a heel injury in City's 1-0 defeat to Manchester United on Sunday.

Toure picked up the injury in the Capital One Cup final victory over Liverpool on Feb. 28 and it forced him out of the Premier League game against the same side three days later.

He returned for the 4-0 win over Aston Villa but sat out the 0-0 draw at Norwich City the following week before playing in City's last two games.

The Ivory Coast's clash in Abidjan was to be his first for his country since a 12-month break from international football after captaining the side to victory in the African Nations Cup in February 2015.

Yaya Toure had been about to make his return for Ivory Coast before getting injured in the Manchester derby.

Meanwhile, defender Bacary Sagna missed training with France ahead of their game against Netherlands on Friday.

However, there is better news over goalkeeper Joe Hart, who could return sooner than expected after being taken off on a stretcher in the Manchester derby.

Hart injured his right calf after making a hurried clearance from a poor backpass from Martin Demichelis.

City boss Manuel Pellegrini initially said he expected Hart to be out of action for three to four weeks and the 28-year-old pulled out of the England squad for the friendlies with Germany and Netherlands.

However, scans have revealed that the damage is not as bad as first thought and he could be available for the Champions League first leg against Paris Saint-Germain on April 6, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Raheem Sterling also limped out of the defeat to United with a groin strain while Vincent Kompany is set to be out for three more weeks with a calf strain.

Fellow centre-back Nicolas Otamendi also missed the game against United with a dead leg and is having compression boot treatment to aid his recovery.

Midfielder Kevin De Bruyne hopes to back for City's next Premier League clash with Bournemouth after stepping up his recovery from a knee ligament injury that has kept him out of action for two months.

"I am training very well and I think I'm ahead of schedule. I'm looking to be back after the international break," he said.

Yaya Toure makes Manchester City tick says Manuel Pellegrini ahead of Everton clash

The Ivorian is expected to start against the Toffees in Wednesday night's Capital One Cup semi-final first leg at Goodison Park.

Manuel Pellegrini will ask Yaya Toure to dig deep again for Wednesday night's Capital One Cup semi-final first leg against Everton .

The Ivorian is likely to deployed in a three-man midfield by Manchester City manager Pellegrini at Goodison Park.

Toure has taken flak from pundits and some fans this season, but answered his critics with three goals in his last four games, reports the Manchester Evening News.

And Pellegrini has re-affirmed the importance of his stand-in captain to the way City play – and says the statistics also make liars of the critics.

In pictures - Watford 1-2 Manchester City:

Toure rarely gets a rest, but that is partly because he wants to play in every game, and Pellegrini recognises his crucial role – it is no coincidence that City's worst performance of the season, at Stoke, came with him injured.

“I think that every player must always want to play every game,” said Pellegrini. “That’s a good mentality. Yaya always tries to play.

“Maybe for the amount of games we must play, it’s not good for him to play every game. But I’m very happy with the mentality of those players that they are always ready to play.

Toure feels he has been unfairly judged on his goalscoring since he bagged 23 during the Blues' title-winning season in 2013-14.

Key player: Manuel Pellegrini celebrates with Toure after a game

Pellegrini agrees there is much more to the midfielder's game: “He’s not only scoring important goals. He’s scored important goals in the last few games, but I think that Yaya gives very good play to our team.

“He’s the midfielder from where we have the most amount of passes to make the last decisive pass, so I think he’s a very important player.

“A lot of media criticise his body language and the way he runs, but if you see all the statistics of Yaya after every game, he’s the one player that runs more.”

City's only new injury problem for the first leg at Goodison is Wilfried Bony, who should be back in time for the FA Cup third round tie at Norwich on Saturday. Vincent Kompany and Samir Nasri are also ruled out.

The Blues have the luxury of being able to counter-attack in the first leg, with the onus on Everton to seize the initiative in their home leg.

And that led Pellegrini to say: “It's a test like a Champions League game.

“Maybe it's different because in the Champions League it is more important to score away - here it is slightly different because there is extra time. But it's a similar test to the Champions League.”

Man City star Yaya Toure only frustrates because of his laid-back character - Everton midfielder Barry

Gareth Barry has stated that Yaya Toure's laid back style belies his impact on a football pitch.

Everton prepare to square off against Manchester City in the semi-final of the Capital One Cup at Goodison Park on Wednesday night and ahead of the game, Toffees midfielder Barry denied claims that former teammate Toure has recently been playing below his best as some critics suggest.

Barry stated that Toure remains a huge threat despite his perceived lack of effort and has backed the Ivorian to guide City to honours this season.

Barry said: "That's just the type of character he is.

"He gets criticism because of his style. Sometimes he just looks like he is waiting for it to happen or waiting for them to go behind before he turns it on.

"But that's just Yaya. He's always been like that. People get frustrated with him but when it comes to the business end, people like Yaya will win you cups and titles.

"I'm not going to say he runs around and covers the most ground because the stats are there and it is clear to see that's not him. But when it comes to producing the goods, he is capable and he has shown that through his career.

"People have been on their backs, saying they wait until they need to turn it on but the quality is obviously there. When it comes to the business end, they will produce and, for me, they are the favourites to win the league."