Manchester City Complete £28m Signing of Barcelona's Yaya Toure

Manchester City has agreed to a £28m fee to sign Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure. The fee makes him the most expensive defensive midfielder in the English Premier league.

Toure, 27,  has long been a target for Manchester City who are captained by his elder brother Kolo Toure.

Arsenal made a bid for him while he was at Olympiakos, but didn't retain the interest after the initial bid was rejected. Chelsea and Manchester United have previously also showed their interest in the midfielder.

A graduate of the Mimosas youth team in the Ivory Coast, Toure joined Belgian side Beveren before moving to Ukrainian side Metalurg Donetsk, Olympiakos and Monaco.

Toure joined Catalan giants Barcelona in 2007 for €9m from Olympiakos and made his official debut for the club on 26 August 2007 during the league opener against Racing de Santander.

The Ivory Coast international was a key member of the Barcelona side that lifted six trophies in 2009. Toure extended his contract at the Camp Nou only last summer, but last season he lost his place to Spain international Sergio Busquets.

Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini likes playing three in midfield, and will possibily pair Yaya with Nigel de Jong and Gareth Barry.

The inclusion of Toure will definitely make the Manchester City midfield a lot stronger as they look to buy a squad capable of challenging for the Premier League title.

6 ft 3 in of raw power, Toure has built a reputation for not only being a powerful midfield general, but a player with excellent ball-playing ability too.