Yaya Toure: Arsene Wenger told me I couldn't play better than Patrick Vieira

Yaya Toure

Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has told the club’s official website that Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger did not believe he could become a better player than Patrick Vieira.

The powerful Ivorian was on the verge of joining the Gunners as a youngster and even played in a trial game for the north Londoners against Barnet, but the move failed to materialise.

Toure has thrived in Manuel Pellegrini’s side and is deployed as a central midfielder, yet often given the opportunity to play a more advanced role by the Chilean too.

However, the 30-year-old has revealed the Arsenal chief attempted to convert him into a striker as Wenger was not convinced he could match the level of performances Vieira produced.

“When I was in Belgium, I went to Arsenal for a couple of months to give me some training and I remember my first chat I had with Arsene.

“He asked me, ‘Which position do you want to play?’ I said, ‘Midfielder’.

“He said: ‘Why? When I saw you training, for me, you looked more like a striker.

“I said ‘That’s why you always put me up front, move me I want to play in midfield like Patrick [Vieira]‘.

“I said ‘I can play like Patrick, I can be better than Patrick’ and he said ‘No, no, it’s impossible,” Toure revealed.

Given the manner in which Toure has flourished into one of the world’s best midfielders, Wenger could be left slightly red faced, although the Frenchman can take solace in the fact several other positional changes that he insisted on turned out to be hugely successful, including Thierry Henry’s conversion into a forward.