Kolo Toure Bio Send To Friend  

After joining Arsenal as something of a jack-of-all-trades, Toure established himself as an essential player at the heart of the defence and is viewed as one of the strongest defenders in the league.

Arsenal signed Toure for an undisclosed sum, in the region of a paltry £150,000, from Asec Mimosas in February 2002.

Toure, aged 20 when joining the club, earned a deal after spending a period on trial at Highbury. He excelled during two games against West Ham United and had 17 caps to his name when joining the club after making his international debut against Rwanda in April 2000.

He impressed on Arsenal's tour of Austria in the summer of 2002, which led to his Gunners debut in the FA Community Shield victory over Liverpool at the Millennium Stadium.

The talented player continued to be a regular in the first team squad throughout the first month of the season, putting in a number of impressive performances from the bench. But after such a fine start to the campaign, his performances dipped a little and he was sent off in the Champions League draw with PSV Eindhoven at Highbury.

If he had a good start to his Highbury career, then 2003-04 was on another level altogether. Toure was immense in central defence, barely putting a foot wrong as Arsenal lifted the title without losing a single Premiership game.

He continued to excel in the Arsenal team, helping the team to FA Cup glory in 2005, and he was sorely missed when on African Nations Cup duty with the Ivory Coast.

In August 2006, Toure signed a new four-year deal and formed a useful partnership with William Gallas after the Frenchman had signed that summer.

However, passed over for the captaincy, Toure reportedly had a bust-up with Gallas as the Arsenal defence struggled (especially in the air) over the next few seasons and he demanded a move away from the club in January 2009.

Toure was persuaded to reverse his decision, but a move away always looked on the cards as he was the only player left from Wenger's Invincibles of 2003-04. And in July, Manchester City agreed a deal with the Gunners for a reported £16m to take the Ivorian to Eastlands. He signed a four-year deal with Mark Hughes' side.