Yaya Toure, one of Barcelona and Manchester City’s legendary names in midfield, retired from professional football in 2020 and soon began his coaching career. He is currently the head coach of the Tottenham Hotspur youth academy and has been in the position since August 2022.
He made 74 La Liga appearances for the Catalans between 2007 and 2010 and scored four goals in his three seasons at the club. In that duration, he won two La Liga titles, a UEFA Champions League, the Club World Cup and the Copa del Rey amongst others.
The former Barcelona midfielder spoke about Lionel Messi’s possible return to the club earlier this week with MARCA but refused to make a prediction as to whether the Argentine would don the garnet-and-blue colours again.
“If he does, I would be surprised. But in football, we don’t know what can happen. Everything Messi has done during his career is impressive. He has done everything, including winning the last World Cup. I don’t know if he’s going to stay in Paris or come back, from what I see in the press. Let’s see what happens,” he said.
Toure, however, then stated that a move to Barcelona was the only fitting end to the record Ballon d’Or winner’s majestic career.
“Barça would be good for him. I only see Messi finishing his career in Barcelona. But I don’t know what’s going to happen to him because he still has a contract, we’ll see what happens next season,” he said.
The PSG star is said to be willing to take a massive pay cut in order to return to the club he considers home. Barcelona can only offer him wages of €10 million in the event of his homecoming, a massive drop-off from his current pay-check.
Further, Messi is said to have rejected an offer worth over €400 million per season from Saudi Arabia in order to stay in Europe for at least the next year. With his drive to stay competitive still burning, Xavi Hernandez’s side could go places with him on the field.
