Yaya Touré - The Football Interview

0:00The Football Interview on the Football Daily Podcast.

0:30good to see you again. Football has been such a big part of your life, I'm sure, from playing to now being a coach as well. What does it mean to you, football? Well, I think FOMO gave me a lot of joy and as well I share those joy with some of the friends who appreciate me and appreciate to see me play in the games. Football as well helped me to put my kids on a good side in life, to have a good start of life. And And it means a lot for me. It's been a lot for me, to be honest. What's your earliest memory of playing the game? When I was a child. My childhood was... It was joyful, to be honest. Being born in the family of strong men as a military guy.

1:17Because my father was from the military, he's been something not really easy to deal with, because he's someone very strong, to be honest. When you say that he was really strong, what do you mean? Was he strict? You know, the military men, they're very strict in the sense that they want the kids to understand and get the things right, for example. Because I remember at some point where when you do a mess in the house, it's quite direct and quite strong, right? That's it. You know what I mean, Kelly. But it's all good, you know. And the sense of the development, my development as a person and as a player as well, you know, have this kind of focus, understanding and going straight forward to what we want to do has been good.

2:05Can you remember the first team that you played for? Yeah, I remember. It was in French we call it Incondationale d 'Ajami because in Ivory Coast, the economic city of Ivory Coast is Abidjan. I was born in Boake. At my 7 or 8, we leave Boake because my father had to do his duty in another city, especially in Abidjan. And I went there and were going to school there with my brothers and friends. In the early days, to be honest, I was not only doing football. I was doing a lot of things, right? Basketballs, taekwondo. I wanted to try, you know, because I'm a curious person, to be honest. And I was open to everything.

2:45and at some point when I started to show myself to different coaches it was one who was saying like yeah I would really like to take you to my clubs and just have a try because you look interesting and I said no problem, interesting and that's how I joined Encarnacioner Darjami and Abidjan and it was quite fun in the beginning right because I was having to deal with school and part-time playing football as well and it was incredible You went on to have an incredible career, played at some of the world's biggest clubs. Was there any particular coach or person that had a massive influence on making you the player that you were?

3:26If I can say that, I think my family, to be honest, of course you have a life, you have the ups down, right? And sometimes you have to deal with it. In some moments, you need people close to you to just put his hand on your shoulder and just support you at the right moment. But I think I don't want to forget those people who have been important in my journey as well. For example, when I was in Ukraine, or when I was in Greece, even in Belgium from the beginning. It was quite challenging at some period because imagine a young guy coming as a 17, coming to Europe, to have to adapt as well to the culture, food, and the strength.

4:02How big a change was that for you? How tough was that? It was huge for me because I was surprised. for example, imagine see, come in, see four or five different weather, right? Because in Africa we have maybe two or one, right? Yeah. It was like, I have to change this clothes today, tomorrow I have to change another clothes again. And it was like a bit, I don't want to say annoying, but it was quite something normal, you know, just to adapt. What was it like though, leaving Africa as a youngster, when you're clearly quite a proud African as well, how was that for you? First of all, it was a joy because I want to get out from there.

4:40I thought you were going to say it was really hard. I was going to miss everyone. No, I wanted that for a long time, to be honest. From the beginning, people, what they don't understand or they don't know about me is that I've always been a fan of football, right? And when I was young, I was always close to the TV watching football, especially European football, you know, and I was watching Paris Saint-Germain playing Spanish football at that time. And I have my proper idea, right? Like, if I want to be among the best players around the world, that's where I have to be, right? And at 17, people would see that maybe it would be weird, but I was really happy to be there and go in there.

5:15You had particularly incredible times at both Barcelona and Manchester City. Yeah. What was that period at Manchester City in particular like? I think it's something I'm really proud of, to be honest. In the beginning, it was quite challenging, right? The fact that fans, media as well, was questioning me more about the income than what I'm going to bring to the clubs. People as well would be skeptical about my arrival at Man City because they were thinking it was not the right move to do. And I feel so delighted that I made them run, right? The fact that I deliver what I should deliver, that's what I'm proud of.

5:52My second year in Barcelona, I arrived and we made such a sixth trophy in one year. I'll never forget the final I've been playing in a different position. I know it was quite risky because some of my teammates were talking to me before the game, saying, you're going to play United, and there's going to be Cristiano Ronaldo, it's going to be United, it's going to be Rune coming to you. And I was like, yeah, I want to embrace the challenge, no problem. But inside me, I was quite a bit worried, you know, because as an older midfielder, is fine but defender you know any mistake can cost you a lot right and can stay in your brain for long but what i'm the most proud of is support help city to get to start the journey right to be one elite club in england now is something i will be proud of when did the coaching journey begin then to be honest with you kelly is that i was sat at home and watching tv for example and i feel start to be a little bit annoying right i didn't take that seriously in any moment because I want to have this kind of freedom, just relax because my body was hurt of a lot of, you know, a lot of difficult moments about games, about injuries, as you can imagine.

7:05And I want to have that time of period of being myself and relaxed and doing nothing for maybe one or two, three months, if that was my plan in the beginning. What changed? What happened? After maybe two, three days, I start to be annoying. Is that what your family told you? Yeah, I started to be annoying. I started to walk around by myself, turning around, watching games, all the games I was prompt on it. You missed it, didn't you? Yeah, because I know Premier League is going to be at the time. I know the La Liga is going to start at eight. I know the French League is going to start at seven.

7:38I was all the time, on the right time, watching TV, and I was thinking, what am I doing? After that, I started the journey of thinking about building something suitable for me. And that's how I started to get in the journey of coaching. Started to do all the badges possible. Now I completed. I've been in Tottenham Academy for some while. I've been in Russia, in Ukraine. And the last one, I was in Saudi recently. It was something enjoyable. Difficult moment, not so easy. But I think I needed to do that, right? To be ready. Because I hope one day people are going to watch me with my team as a coach.

8:16Which coaches that you've played under have particularly influenced you and the manager that you want to be? I think Raikard and Mancini. When I went to Barcelona in the time of Raikard, it was impressive because Raikard was always telling me, yeah, yeah, I don't want you to go further because you play deep midfielder role. Xavi Iniesta in front of you, you can't pass them to play the ball in front of them because you're supposed to be behind them. I think physically you can give more to the team. And I said, OK, well, let's see it. And after that, he put me in the game and I was running everywhere.

8:48But he saw I was not convinced. What he did at some point, he called me. He wanted to see me face to face, we had a chat, maybe look some, some movie, for example. I said, movie? Why do you want me to watch? I don't want to watch movies with you. Gaffa, he said, why do you want me to watch? He said, wait. And when everyone was off, we go in his private room and we put the videos and he showed me all my action during the game we played. I remember against Zaragoza, I'll never forget that. He takes his, you have a small book on his hand, and he's like, last time I told you that, right? I said, yeah, yeah.

9:22But look, that one, I tell you to not do it. Look at that, look how it looks. From that day, when I left his office, I never talk again, ever, because it was like something new to me. And the game, it was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, what does this guy want from me? All the time he's calling me, why don't call Puyolo, don't call Alves, why it owes me? It wasn't like, you have something against me, this guy. But at some point he was right, and he showed me that for 45 minutes, even I was like, shot and sit on there, and shocked and like, yeah, yeah. And since that day, my brain changed a lot.

9:55And the second one was Mancini, and the time of dedication, and the time of passion, you know, the decision he gave it, how intense he gave, how much he's getting involved. And sometimes it may be quite a bit strange, you know, when you see a coach grab you and say, you have to do that, do that. And after that in training, show you some videos and push you to get better and better. That's the two people who impact me a lot, to be honest. You're one of three and your brother, Kolo, your careers have kind of been interlinked throughout. What's that been like growing up with that dynamic? I always say that I was the best one.

10:31I always say that because it was a bit of a rivalry between me and him. But at some point I felt he got to the point that he knows I was better in some part of the games than him. I think him physically was better because that's all this kind of coming down from my father as well, right? Because he was very focused, dedicated and, you know, he always had that discipline, right? For me at some point I tried to run away from it but I cannot because he was always close to me and shouting at me. But me and Kolo, we've always been that type of thing. And at some point, Kolo realised that I was a bit better.

11:10But he was not frustrated because he wanted to push that boundary very far, right? Who's going to be the best and who's going to achieve more? And at some point, I get better. Poor Kolo, we need to admit to himself. Are you close, the two of you? Yeah, at some point, to be honest. Because life, at the end of the day, at some point, get it where each one of you have to go in your own way, right? and I really understand that and I respect that to be honest. How would your friends and family describe you?

11:42Funny guy to be honest but yeah but I think people maybe think I have a lot of friends around me at some point but to tell you clearly I'm the type of guys who are very reserved, very private to be honest. I'm we maybe don't see a lot of people around me, for example. I'm very... Why is that? The people you're going to see around me is the close one, right? You're going to see a small group of people around me. Because from my point of view, I don't believe in fact to have a lot of people around you is going to help you a lot, especially in the football career, because it's so demanding and you have so many sacrifices that have to be made.

12:24And if you're very disciplining, disciplining, as I said, my father teach me and my brother about that. You can have a success, right? But if you be, you know, too much on it or too much of enjoyment, I think it's going to be difficult for you to make it, right, at some point. And that's what I believe and that's why I stick with it for almost all my career, if you can say that. If you could only achieve one more thing in your life, what would it be? I think, and I believe I'm never going to stop because I belong to one thing, to be to be honest, going further and further, as far as possible. As a coach maybe, yeah, at some point winning trophies with my team, bring joys to the players and bring joys as well to the people who have been supporting me for quite a while, to be honest.

13:12What type of team is a Yaya Toure team going to look like? People will be very, very excited. Even me, I can't wait to see that. I hope it's going to, at some point it's going to happen. I'm very positive and I'm really looking for what is going to happen again. I'm looking forward to seeing a Yaya Toure team when you do take over. Thank you so much. InshaAllah. Thank you very much. For your time today. Thank you very much, Kelly.

13:39From a small village on the banks of the River Nile. Everybody call me Mohammed, but it's your name or nickname. They call me Mo. To the biggest stages of world football. Goes for the corner. Man, Salah. Salah is more than just a player. He's an icon, a symbol, a king. It's 6-0 and Salah rips off his shirt. Mohamed Salah represents a dream for Egyptians, for Muslims, for Africans. More than just a football player, he gave us hope. I'm Kelly Cates. This is Sporting Giant's Mo Salah. Listen on BBC Sounds.