Will Man City live to regret selling Kolo Toure to title rivals?

Kolo Touré‘s departure from Man City this summer deprived Sky Blues fans from using the chant which has swept Britain – whilst his

Kolo Touré‘s departure from Man City this summer deprived Sky Blues fans from using the chant which has swept Britain – whilst his brother Yayacontinues the Touré dynasty in Manchester, he will have to go without hearing his and his brother’s name repeatedly chanted after the elder sibling moved to Liverpool in July.

ESPN recently reported that Kolo stated that his former club would regret allowing him to leave the Etihad this summer, suggesting that his performances at his new club would show that Manuel Pellegrini made the incorrect decision not to offer him a new contract.

Man City have suffered several defensive injuries this season and as a result Vincent Kompany, a man many have come to associate with City’s back-line, has been limited to just 4 appearances. The central defender who has featured most this season is Matija Nastasi? who has himself overcome injury to make 9 appearances. In contrast, Kolo has only missed 1 game through injury and could have provided Pellegrini with good cover in this area had he been retained.

As well as this, the former Arsenal defender has been more defensively solid than Nastasi? so far in 2013/14. He has been successful in 18 of a possible 26 tackles at a completion rate of 67%; this casts a shadow over the Serbian’s figure of 55% and suggests that it would have been wise decision to offer the Ivorian a new contract at the Etihad. Indeed, Touré’s completion rate is higher than any of Man City’s central defenders’ and thus far he has shown that he should still be playing at the in Manchester.

However, from the above graphic, it is evident that the defender has been fairly poor in the air, winning just 43% of his headers. This is a weak statistic and suggests that the Ivorian, whilst dominant on the ground, has been far from commanding in the air. This is a trait which all Man City’s defenders possess (Martin Demichelis has won 56% of his headers, for example) and as such it may be that this is the reason why Touré was released at the end of his contract in the summer.

Moreover, Touré’s passing skills are not up to the standard which Pellegrini demands. Kompany, Nastasi? and Demichelis have pass completion rates of 94%, 92% and 91% respectively, all of which dwarf the Liverpool man’s figure of 84%. The ex-Malaga manager requires defenders capable of retaining the ball at the back, a role which Touré does not fulfil as well as other defenders, and because of this it is evident that the Citizens made the correct decision in opting not to keep the defender at the same club as his brother.

It is evident that whilst Toure’s tackling skills remain up to scratch, there are other areas of his game which are quite detrimental; for this reason, it would have been an unwise decision for Pellegrini to have kept the 32-year-old on at Man City.