The 36-year-old Ivorian international, Gnégnéri Yaya Touré, intends to follow a training course as a coach to continue to stay in touch with this football sport that has earned him a resounding success. Currently in the Chinese championship with the Qingdao Huanghai club, Yaya Touré is preparing for her professional retirement and could find herself on a bench for a new career as a manager.
This new door that opens for Yaya Touré will be decisive for him, an adventure as a coach with a team to carry to the top. For the moment, the Ivorian international is in training to be as effective on the field as on the bench. Returning to this choice to be a manager, Yaya Touré explains in an interview with Coachesvoice:
“Yaya, you know you could be a coach,” a manager once told me. “What?” I said. I was confused. I had never considered coaching before. “I just want to play,” I said. “At the time, I was sure. I wanted to finish my career as a player properly. But those words triggered something in me, which never occurred to me. I wasn’t ready at the time. I wasn’t ready because I wanted to keep playing, but also because I knew at the time—and I know now—that I couldn’t be a coach at that age. I was so shocked! I still had a lot to learn.”
Yaya Touré is therefore sure of his choice and he intends to go all the way and find a club under his leadership at the end of his training. Indeed, for the native of Bouaké, “it is difficult to abandon the game completely. Maybe I still have a year left in my legs! But I started to realize how good it is to be a coach.”
The flamboyant Ivorian midfielder, Yaya Touré, went through several major European clubs such as FC Barcelona (2007/2010) in Spain, Manchester City (2010/2018) in England and Olympiakos (2018) in Greece.
Yaya Touré wants to continue to make her mark in the world of football, like great players who have become coaches like Real Madrid’s French Zinédine Zidane, Naples’ Italian Gennaro Gattuso, Manchester City Pep Guardiola Spanish or Chelsea Frank Lampard English.
