Loyal Toure happy to give up captaincy
Manchester City defender Kolo Toure has said he had no problem giving up the captaincy to Carlos Tevez ahead of the current season.
Toure was handed the captaincy of the Midlands club by manager Mark Hughes shortly after transferring from Arsenal last summer.
“When Roberto Mancini took over [in January], I continued playing that role till the end of the season and everything went fine," Toure told Sport Ivoire. "At the beginning of the new season, Mancini came to me and said he wanted to take the important decision of naming Carlos Tevez the new captain so he can get more involved in the set-up, like Diego Maradona did after he became the captain of Napoli. I accepted and Tevez took over, all in the name of peace and progress for our club.”
Before joining Manchester City, Toure made 225 appearances for Arsenal between 2002 and 2009.
Accused of forcing Drogba's exit
But despite his likeable character, Toure has been cited as one of the reasons behind Didier Drogba's exclusion from the Ivorian squad that faced Rwanda last Friday.
Having left Drogba out of the squad, new national team coach, François Zahoui, said that the Chelsea striker had chosen to retire from international football.
The press then claimed that Toure's challenge for the team captaincy, held by Drogba since 2006, had provoked the striker's departure.
“That’s not true," Toure said, denying the claims made by the media. "I have no problems with Drogba. We speak to each other regularly on the phone. We’re friends and brothers. I beg all those who want to divide us and the team to stop. I’m not a troublesome guy, that’s why I’m given the role of a captain wherever I go.”
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