Yaya Toure thinks he is not regarded as one of the best players in the world because he is from Africa

Manchester City and Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure thinks he is not regarded as one of the best players in the world because he is from Africa.

Toure, 30, has 22 goals this season, helping City to win the League Cup and challenge for the Premier League title.

Samir Nasri recently said Toure would be celebrated as one of the world's best midfielders were he not African.

In an interview for Football Focus on BBC World News, he said: "I think what Samir was saying was definitely true."

The midfielder has won league titles in four countries - Ivory Coast, Greece, Spain and England - and was part of the Barcelona team that won the Champions League in 2009.

He also feels fellow countryman Didier Drogba and Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o are undervalued because they are African.

"To be honest, proper recognition has only come from the fans," said the three-time African player of the year. "I don't want to be hard and I don't want to be negative, but I want to be honest."

Nonsense.

Loads of colored people have been considered among the best in the world, why would the fact that he is from Africa rather than Brazil, for example, somehow hinder his reconition?

Didn't George Weah win world player of the year once?

Yaya you're talking out of your ar5e, complete nonsense

Africa is a country!

Champagne_Socialist wrote: Manchester City and Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure thinks he is not regarded as one of the best players in the world because he is from Africa.

Toure, 30, has 22 goals this season, helping City to win the League Cup and challenge for the Premier League title.

Samir Nasri recently said Toure would be celebrated  as one of the world's best midfielders were he not African.

In an interview for Football Focus on BBC World News, he said: "I think what Samir was saying was definitely true."

The midfielder has won league titles in four countries - Ivory Coast, Greece, Spain and England - and was part of the Barcelona team that won the Champions League in 2009.

He also feels fellow countryman Didier Drogba and Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o are undervalued because they are African.

"To be honest, proper recognition has only come from the fans," said the three-time African player of the year. "I don't want to be hard and I don't want to be negative, but I want to be honest."

is he off his rocker- everyone in england rates him high! in most top 3's for the year- what is his problem?

It's not the first time he's made comments like these, he's either attention seeking or just a bit stupid.

He's looking at it from the wrong angle. If anything some players are overrated because of where they're from. Let's take England for instance. Wayne Rooney is often called 'world class' were if he was from Africa, he'd just be a good player, same as Alan Shearer and before him Paul Gascoigne. The British media tend to overhype homegrown players too much.

I guess in Toure's mind, the media don't hype up African talent enough.

There's no doubting that Shearer was genuine world class Atila, he was one of the best finishers in the world and the best finisher in the premier league era bar none, his scoring record speaks for itself.

toure is hyped up all the time in the British press as was Drogba. I think he(as with nasri's comment proves and someone who has played in other leagues) comes from other european countries media tbh.

And he has also been shortlisted for player of the year. So seriously where is his 'beef' coming from.

I just think he's peed off because he knows Man City have blown the title.

As far as I read it, he wasn't actually complaining about awards, more perception - lettuce be serious, given the abject failure of UEFA/fifa's fair play initiatives in Eastern Europe, and to a degree some of continental Europe... he isn't far off... Then again, if Luke Shaw needs bids in excess of £50m...

That said, I still think Schweimsteiger is a better midfielder than him.

Kinggraf I know you are not from briton. But his perception here is that he is a top top player. Maybe not in other nations.

But then he isnt the type that a continental European's would forn over. However that isnt due to his race or nationality. But more about his style.

Why do people always do this?

Like that Sol Campbell rubbish and Paul Ince's constant BS.

Hmmmmm..... Sounds like a bit of an ego driven chip on the shoulder to me.

What sort of ego must he possess to believe he is entitled to be considered one of the best players in the world..? OK, so he's had a successful career. He's played in teams that won trophies and his contribution to those successes is not in doubt.

But what I see (admittedly only on the TV) is a player who, whilst highly talented, is rather temperamental and is easily distracted. He can disappear from games and if he doesn't get his own way all the time he can become petulant almost to the point of childish at times.

Not character traits I would expect to find in "one of the best players in the world".

He is a very skilful player, and a physically powerful man. He's not easy to knock off the ball once he's got up a head of steam. But to be a true "great", a player needs more. He needs to be able to handle the stresses and pressures when things aren't going his way and when things are at their worst, he needs to be able to rise above it all and still put in a top performance.

Sorry Yaya... for all your many gifts and talents, in my opinion, it's not your footballing skill that's lacking, it's the personal qualities that you need to acquire in order to stand amongst the real giants of the game.

How can you obtain those qualities.... Well, you could learn a little modesty and humility.

Stopping bigging yourself up would be a start.

Toure IS regarded as one of the best players around. Not sure why he thinks otherwise.

Africa?

I'll make a note of that in my Filofax, Steven.

For my money he is one of the best handful of midfielders in the world. Having a chip on your shoulder doesn't disqualify him from that ranking in fact that is usually the reason that very good players become great players, most of them play with that chip on their shoulder and refuse to relinquish even after becoming established stars. For my money he is on my all premier league team and probably on the all world team as well as first choice box to box midfielder. Either him or Vidal.

Lettuce be real, any player of colour who had a stopover in Spain, will have a perception of reality a little different to yours.

kingraf wrote:Lettuce be real, any player of colour who had a stopover in Spain, will have a perception of reality a little different to yours.

KR, I have traveled to Spain a couple of times over the years and the people have been very nice, but I have heard all second hand of course that they really are not that down with people of African descent, and football fans aren't usually the most tolerant people either. I am sure he has had to put up with some racial abuse that a Spanish player or English player does not have to put up with. I have also experienced the same type of commentary and discrimination in my own life and that kind of stuff does make you paranoid. It is something that is very hard to explain to someone who has not experienced it from the time they are children.

socal1976 wrote:For my money he is one of the best handful of midfielders in the world. Having a chip on your shoulder doesn't disqualify him from that ranking in fact that is usually the reason that very good players become great players, most of them play with that chip on their shoulder and refuse to relinquish even after becoming established stars. For my money he is on my all premier league team and probably on the all world team as well as first choice box to box midfielder. Either him or Vidal.

Interesting comments and from reading what you say I can only assume that you would be prepared to tolerate a player who is more interested in his own vanity rather than being a wholehearted and selfless team player.

The point I was trying to make is that, in my opinion, a player should be fully committed to the needs of the team and, when the going gets tough and the team are struggling they should be able to look to their best players for inspiration and leadership.   I sometimes wonder if Yaya Toure fits that bill.  

I quite agree that he is highly skilful, very strong and when all is well he has the ability to do things that can make the difference between winning and losing.

But what about when things aren't going so well..?

I've seen him in matches, too many times, getting involved in pointless bickering with referees.  Not just a bit of dissent, or an expression of frustration at a poor decision...  but a prolonged bout of petulance which usually precedes a sulk and then disappearance from the game for the next twenty minutes or so, if not longer.

If that what you think "great" players do, I would disagree.

If I were the manager sitting in the dugout and looking at my team being behind in the game and with the clock ticking down, I'd be looking for my player to take the bad decision like a man, roll his sleeves up and take it out on the opposition's defence with his talents.   That's what I would say a "great" player does.

I suppose I'm just a bit old fashioned.

Very correct, SoCal. When you've plyed your trade in a country wherein a lot of people seem to not like won simply because of your skin, it becomes rather difficult to discern whether someone doesn't rate you because of your skin, or because they don't rate your ability.

You can't ever quite get it, unless you've been there.

Well at the money end of the season the player that has shown up and will win the PL is Yaya. So that is good enough for me.....

if he wasnt playing so well against palace they wouldnt have beat us.

The Fourth Lion wrote:

socal1976 wrote:For my money he is one of the best handful of midfielders in the world. Having a chip on your shoulder doesn't disqualify him from that ranking in fact that is usually the reason that very good players become great players, most of them play with that chip on their shoulder and refuse to relinquish even after becoming established stars. For my money he is on my all premier league team and probably on the all world team as well as first choice box to box midfielder. Either him or Vidal.

Interesting comments and from reading what you say I can only assume that you would be prepared to tolerate a player who is more interested in his own vanity rather than being a wholehearted and selfless team player.

The point I was trying to make is that, in my opinion, a player should be fully committed to the needs of the team and, when the going gets tough and the team are struggling they should be able to look to their best players for inspiration and leadership.   I sometimes wonder if Yaya Toure fits that bill.  

I quite agree that he is highly skilful, very strong and when all is well he has the ability to do things that can make the difference between winning and losing.

But what about when things aren't going so well..?

I've seen him in matches, too many times, getting involved in pointless bickering with referees.  Not just a bit of dissent, or an expression of frustration at a poor decision...  but a prolonged bout of petulance which usually precedes a sulk and then disappearance from the game for the next twenty minutes or so, if not longer.

If that what you think "great" players do, I would disagree.

If I were the manager sitting in the dugout and looking at my team being behind in the game and with the clock ticking down, I'd be looking for my player to take the bad decision like a man, roll his sleeves up and take it out on the opposition's defence with his talents.   That's what I would say a "great" player does.

I suppose I'm just a bit old fashioned.

Fourth Lion, honestly how many box to box midfielders would you rate in the world better than Ya Ya, but he rarely makes any of these team of the year selections in europe or gains recognition for player of the year awards. I am not agreeing with his estimation that he gets overlooked because he is African. He probably gets overlooked because he doesn't play for Barca or Real Madrid or even Munich for that matter. The fact is if you look at what he does for the team on a day in and day out basis I can't think of a city player more irreplaceable than he is. Sure, he does have matches or stretches in matches were he is not involved but that can be said about pretty much anyone. Measuring his contribution to a side comes down to helping them win, and he certainly is the engine of City's success (along with Aguero) the last few years. Anecdotal evidence of bickering or sulking in a match here and there not withstanding.