Yaya Toure prepared to leave Manchester City

Yaya Toure wants to be challenged and is prepared to leave Manchester City if he feels he is no longer wanted by the club.

Toure has come in for some heavy criticism in recent months as City’s poor form has seen them drop to fourth in the Premier League.

City are expected to bring in new faces over the summer in a bid to freshen up the aging squad and Toure is one of those players who could be sold to make way for new arrivals.

The Ivory Coast international is expected to hold talks with the club at the end of the season but the 32-year-old has not ruled out a summer exit.

“No amount of wages will make me stay at a club if I feel that I no longer belong there or if no challenge exists for me,” he told Foot Mercato.

“It would be unjust on my part. There comes a moment where numbers don’t stop us, it goes beyond that, even if the English press seem more interested in the numbers than the sport itself.

“For the future, I don’t know more than you do, because I will always go where I am offered new challenges. That is in my nature.”

Toure was singled out by manager Manuel Pellegrini last week but he insists the criticism will only make his stronger.

“When things are not necessarily going well in a club, the key players take the fall,” added Toure.

“I am not the only one to have been attacked even if there is tendency to be harsher with me… Football is my passion, my job and that gives me two good reasons to do as well as I can.

“I accept criticism if it helps me to improve and I ignore them when their aim is simply to break me.

“When I arrived at City, [Manuel] Pellegrini was not the coach. Just like the players, managers arrive and leave. As I have said before, I owe it to the City fans to fight just until the end of my career at this club.

“My decisions will not be affected by changes in management, but more by the challenges that will be offered to me.”

Credit: Michelle/Setanta Sport