‘Very close’ – Yaya Toure could have signed for Arsenal but tough rule scuppered transfer ...0

Yaya Toure has recalled how strict passport issues prevented him from signing for Arsenal under Arsene Wenger.

Toure, one of football’s greatest ever midfielders, first started in the ASEC Mimosas academy before signing for KSK Beveren in 2001.

During the summer of 2003, the midfielder went on trial at Arsenal, who had just finished second in the Premier League.

He even played in a pre-season friendly against Barnet that finished 0-0 but was unable to seal a permanent move to the Gunners.

Speaking on Rio Ferdinand Presents, Toure was asked about how close he was to signing for Arsenal and playing under Wenger.

“Very close,” he said. “[I had a] trial for six months, it was a lot.”

“How did Arsene Wenger not sign you?” Ferdinand asked, and Toure replied: “In the beginning, I think the problem was the paperwork.

“Because at that time, when I remember, you have to play 75 per cent in the national team if you don’t have the European passport.

“Or, you have to have a European passport to play in England, and that was the path.

“Arsene was willing to let me go back to Belgium to carry on for, I think, one more year or two years to get the Belgium passport.

“Because at that time I was not playing in the national team A-team and in my mind, I was like, ‘It’s time for me to go abroad, test myself and try something different.’

“It was from that period, I’ve been sold to Ukraine [FC Metalurh Donetsk], and that was [when] I was starting to get a bit frustrated.

“For me, it was a bit of a fail because I didn’t make it, but in the end, it was that difficult because my mind was divided.

“I didn’t want to get a passport to get it, I wanted to be able as well to play for my national team, but [at] that time I was very young, was a very inexperienced player, to find a place for me was difficult.”

Wenger spoke on Arsenal’s failure to sign Toure in 2014, saying: “It would be up at the top [of my list of regrets].

“But let’s not forget that Yaya Toure had an agreement with us, and it’s not because we did not want to sign him that he went to Ukraine.

“We needed to wait for his passport in Belgium. We have made mistakes but he is not a mistake, it’s just the fact that he preferred to go to Metalurh Donetsk. He could go there without any passport.”

If Toure did join Arsenal in 2003, he would’ve joined the ‘Invincibles’ squad that won the 2003/04 Premier League title.

However, he signed for Metalurh Donetsk instead, spending a year-and-a-half in Ukraine before moving to Olympiacos in 2005.

A switch to Monaco followed a year later before he signed for Spanish giants Barcelona in 2007, with whom he won two LaLiga titles.

Toure was also a Champions League winner with Barca, who sold him to Manchester City for around £24million in 2010.

The midfielder won three Premier League titles, two League Cups and the FA Cup, scoring 80 goals in 316 appearances for the club.

After eight years at the Etihad Stadium, he returned to Olympiacos before featuring for Chinese side Qingdao FC.

Now an assistant coach for the Saudi Arabian national team, Toure was also a huge success at international level for the Ivory Coast.

He earned 101 caps and scored 19 goals for his country from 2004 to 2015 to become one of their most legendary players.

Toure also captained the Ivory Coast to Africa Cup of Nations glory in his final year with the team before retiring in September 2016.

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