Manchester City Transfer News: Yaya Toure Wants Premier League Stay Amid Rumours

Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure is keen to remain in the Premier League should he depart the club in the January transfer window.

The Ivory Coast international has fallen out of favour under new manager Pep Guardiola, starting just one game since he took over in the summer. His marginalisation has prompted talk of a midseason switch, and according to Chris Wheeler of the Daily Mail, the 33-year-old wants to stay in English football, where he’s plied his trade for the last six years.

“Toure turned down a lucrative offer from China in the summer as well as a chance to move to Inter Milan because he does not want to uproot his family from their Cheshire home, and [he] remains keen to continue his career at a more competitive level in England,” it's stated.

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Wheeler added that City wouldn’t be too concerned about the midfielder joining a divisional rival, with the club keen to get his £220,000-per-week wages off the bill.

As we can see here, courtesy of WhoScored.com, Toure has long been a hugely positive influence for City:

Winds of change are blowing through the corridors of the Etihad Stadium, though, with Guardiola imposing his methods on the team and doing so to great effect. City are top of the Premier League table, having won all five of their opening games.

Toure has yet to feature in the Premier League under Guardiola, with whom he worked at Barcelona in the past. You sense it’ll be tough for him to find a way back at this point for myriad reasons.

As noted by Wheeler, the two-time title winner with City was recently left off their official team photograph.

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Additionally, Toure’s agent, Dimitri Seluk, and Guardiola have been involved in a public war of words surrounding the treatment of the player. Bleacher Report UK documented the back-and-forth argument between the pair:

The most important reasons are stylistic ones, though. Toure has changed as a player in recent years. No longer is he the rampaging box-to-box presence who struck fear into opponents. Nor is he the composed holding player Guardiola could call upon at the Camp Nou. The natural talent remains, although the 33-year-old needs catering for.

City’s football is based on different parts of the XI functioning in unison to create an irresistible force, and as such, players can’t be carried.

Even in the twilight of his career, the Ivorian could thrive in the division with the right components in place, although his silverware-laden six years in east Manchester look poised to come to an end.