Yaya Toure has passed a medical in London and is “close to signing a new contract”, the player’s agent has claimed.
Toure, 35, has been a free agent since leaving Manchester City at the end of last season.
The Ivory Coast star was linked with a move to West Ham to reunite with former City manager Manuel Pellegrini, but the Hammers boss dismissed those rumours two weeks ago.
It appears Toure is poised to complete his next move, though, with agent Dimitry Seluk stating a deal was close on Tuesday.
Toure won three Premier League titles with City but left in somewhat acrimonious circumstances, when he accused manager Pep Guardiola of having “problems with Africans”.
Guardiola responded to the allegation by saying: “It’s a lie and he [Toure] knows it.”
Formerly a defender, Yaya Touré plays primarily in the centre as a box-to-box midfielder, often switching between offensive and defensive stances throughout matches. Touré is a complete and versatile midfielder,who can play in several midfield positions, is regarded as one of the best midfielders in the world.
His key strengths are his passing range, vision and physical ability. He is gifted with good technique and ball control, although he also excels defensively at breaking down opposing attacking plays and winning back possession through his powerful tackling ability.
He is known for his pace, stamina and physical presence, which is often combined with lungbursting runs from midfield, and he has been referred to as a “human train” and a “colossus” by various pundits. Touré is frequently pushed forward during the latter part of matches, most notably in the penultimate match of the 2011–12 season against Newcastle United where Touré scored two late goals to win the match, and put Manchester City at the top of the league.
He is also capable of scoring goals due to his powerful striking ability from distance, and his heading ability, as well as his recently developed adeptness at scoring from set-pieces and penalties.
Touré has in his repertoire an unusual method of striking the ball, referred to by Norwegian Alexander Tettey as a “Yaya”, and described by BBC’s Pat Nevin as a way of striking the ball with a far back area of the foot close to the heel, allowing the ball to move in a straight line which a goalkeeper can find hard to read.