Who is Yaya Touré?

Quick facts

• Full name: Gnégnéri Yaya Touré
• Born: Bouaké, Ivory Coast
• Position: Central midfielder
• Height: 6 ft 2 in
• International caps: 101 appearances for the Ivory Coast national team
• Current role: Head coach of Slovan Bratislava

Their story

Touré joined the ASEC Mimosas youth academy in 1996 at the age of 13. He originally wanted to be a striker but was pushed back to midfield when playing for professional teams. From Ivory Coast, his path took him through Belgium, Ukraine, Greece and France before Europe's elite came calling.

While at Monaco, Barcelona came calling, and Touré signed for the Spanish giants for a relatively paltry $10 million. He scooped seven major honours there, including a La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League treble in the 2008/09 season. In July 2010, Touré signed for City for a fee reported to be £24 million. He was given the squad number 42, the reverse of the 24 he had worn at Barcelona, and was teamed with his older brother Kolo Touré.

What they achieved

A series of successful goals in the 2010-11 season, including winning goals in the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United and the final against Stoke City, culminated in the end of a 35-year wait for a major trophy. The 2011-12 season saw Touré described as "dominant," a key player in a team that secured City's first league championship in 44 years.

One of the greatest African players of all time, Touré was voted African Footballer of the Year for 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. He scored 79 goals in 316 appearances to help City win three Premier League titles and the FA Cup.

His connection to the charges

This is where his story ties back to what we've been discussing. Among those mentioned in the leaked documents is Dimitri Seluk, an agent who at the time represented Touré. The documents showed contracts between ADUG and a company called DS Management Ltd, owned by Seluk, in relation to the player's image rights. Those contracts appear to show details of payments directly from ADUG, when regulations state clubs should be responsible for such payments. In other words, the allegation is that Abu Dhabi was paying Touré's image rights fees directly, off City's books, in the same pattern as the broader sham arrangements we covered earlier.

Touré himself has distanced himself from any wrongdoing. He told The Times of Seluk, "He did a lot of bad things," having separated from the agent by that point. Seluk, for his part, has denied any wrongdoing, telling The Guardian, "Everything was transparent, there was nothing on the back side."

After City

Touré fell out of favour under Pep Guardiola and was released at the end of the 2017-18 campaign, after which he had spells at Olympiacos and in the Chinese Super League with Qingdao Huanghai. He has since moved into management and is currently head coach of Slovan Bratislava.