James Ward-Prowse has named former Manchester City player Yaya Toure as one of the top three midfielders in Premier League history.
The Ivorian spent eight years at the Manchester club between 2010 and 2018 before he left on a free transfer.
Having been retired since 2020 and now currently being the assistant manager to Roberto Mancini for the Saudi Arabia national team, Toure has found himself on the end of some heavy praise from one of the Premier League’s current midfield stars.
Speaking in a recent video shared on the Sky Sports Premier League YouTube channel, Ward-Prowse had this to say about Toure after including him in his list of the top three midfielders from the Premier League era.
He said: “Played against Yaya Toure a couple of times and just couldn’t get the ball off him. Quick, strong, powerful, can score goals, box-to-box midfielder.”
City signed Toure from Barcelona for a fee of £24m and went on to see the midfielder make 316 appearances in total across all competitions, scoring 79 goals and delivering 49 assists along the way.
Back in 2018, shortly before the midfielder’s departure from the club, Pep Guardiola said this about him.
He said: “Yaya is part of the club, not just because of the trophies he has won but because he transmitted to everyone the club can be bigger and greater.
“He is beloved, he is calm, he loves football and I’m very pleased with the success he has had.
“The footballers made the club bigger and bigger and bigger. He is one of the most important players in the whole history.”
Having had such a big impact at the Manchester club, it’s easy to see why Ward-Prowse thinks so highly of him, especially since he knows what it’s like to try and play against him.
