Kolo Touré

Kolo Touré was born in the Ivory Coast on 19 March 1981 and was a member of the Invincibles side of 2003/4.

Touré joined Arsenal in February 2002 from ASEC Mimosas for £150,000 after a trial with Arsenal, and was granted a work permit on the basis of being a full international for the side.

Touré played his first game against Liverpool (for whom he now plays) in the Community Shield match in August 2002 and by the end of the season was an unused sub in the Cup Final.

His main role from 2003 on was as a partner to Sol Campbell in central defence but was not always considered ahead of Senderos and Cygan.  However by 2004/5 he was secure enough to play 50 games in the season and get a cup winners’ medal.

By 2005/06 he was playing alongside Senderos and played in the  2006  Champs League Final

In 2006/07 season Touré signed a new four-year deal with Arsenal and captained Arsenal on 9 January 2007 for the 6–3 victory over Liverpool in the League Cup.

On 13 April 2009, Touré demanded a transfer, claiming he could not get on with William Gallas and on 28 July 2009 he was sold to Manchester City for £14m thus making Arsenal a profit of £13,850,000.

Here’s his Arsenal record

 Season  Games Goals
  2001-2002   0   0
  2002-2003   26   2
  2003-2004   37   1
  2004-2005   35   0
  2005-2006   33   0
  2006-2007   35   3
  2007-2008   30   2
  2008-2009   29   1

During his time at Manchester City he was given a six month ban from football for failing a drugs test.  He was ordered to be target tested for two years.

Toure admitted taking a drug contrary to Regulation 3 of the FA Doping Regulations 2010/11.   Of the issue Mr Wenger said,  “He wants to control his weight a little bit because that’s where he has some problems and he took the product [belonging to] his wife.  He is a boy that has a clean life, a very honest living. I just think it is a mistake.”

At the end of his contract in the summer of 2013, at the end of his contract, his value was reduced by Manchester City from £13.85m to zero as he was given a free transfer to Liverpool.

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