Former Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has admitted that he is "very open" to the prospect of managing a Premier League club in the future.
The 40-year-old spent eight hugely-successful years of his playing career at the Etihad Stadium between 2010 and 2018, winning seven trophies as well as scoring 79 goals and providing 49 assists in 316 appearances.
Toure, a three-time Premier League winner, finished his career in China with Qingdao Huanghai before hanging up his boots in 2020, and he has since moved into coaching.
The Ivorian's coaching career began with brief assistant roles at Ukrainian side Olimpik Donetsk and then Russian outfit Akhmat Grozny, before joining Tottenham Hotspur as an Under-16s coach in August last year.
Toure has since left his role in North London to join the coaching staff of Carl Hoefkens at Belgian club Standard Liege where he will serve as an assistant manager.
© Reuters
Toure may only be in the early stages of his coaching career, but the former box-to-box powerhouse has revealed that he has plans to one day manage in the Premier League.
Speaking to the PA news agency about his Premier League managerial ambitions, Toure said: "One hundred per cent, that is my plan and idea. For me I have to go step after step, I am on a learning journey.
"I am very open to everything, just carrying on what I am doing. Why not the Premier League? I don't know how long it is going to take, maybe sooner or later, for me I am always open for it.
"I know it's going to be a big challenge and coaches' jobs are becoming tougher and tougher. You see coaches surviving for a maximum four or five months.
"That is what it is now, that is the reality. For me, I am quite patient and I have to take my steps very carefully and in the right manner.
"That's why I am going to Belgium because I want to learn from top coaches like Carl, who has huge experience."
New coaching course 🚨
— CV Academy (@CVAcademy) June 27, 2023
Before joining Standard Liège as assistant coach, @YayaToure led his Tottenham Under-16 team through a session designed to reinforce the principles that underpin maintaining possession and creating under high pressure... 🇨🇮⚪️#THFC
Toure has refused to rule out a potential return to Tottenham in a coaching capacity, adding: "Tottenham did not stand in my way and they let me go and I think that was brilliant. I would love to carry on in Tottenham because my belief and development was to try to work with the grown men.
"If the opportunity to go back was there, then why not? Because what Tottenham did for me was incredible, they allowed me to work there and develop as a coach and for what they did for me I will never be able to thank them enough.
"They opened the door for me and allowed me to express myself in the right manner and do the things I wanted to do. That is a real positive for me.
"Of course at the end of the day I move on but Tottenham is always going to be a great club and one that will always mean something to me."
Toure has returned to Belgium where he started his playing career with Beveren back in 2001 before representing Metalurh Donetsk, Olympiacos, Monaco, Barcelona, Man City and Qingdao Huanghai, as well as earning 101 international caps for Ivory Coast.
Toure's older brother Kolo Toure has also stepped into management, although the 42-year-old is currently out of work following his dismissal by Wigan Athletic in January after just nine games in charge.
Oliver Thomas
