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The Football Interview - Season 1 Episode 17 -
Yaya Touré
Yaya Touré
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00:00and the questions they don't normally get asked as I try to find out more about the person behind
00:05the player. The first half will be on football, the second on their life away from the pitch.
00:09This isn't just any interview, this is the football interview. And today I'm joined by
00:13the former Manchester City and Barcelona midfielder, Jojo Torre.
00:23Jojo, it's really good to see you again. Football has been such a big part of your life,
00:28I'm sure, from playing to now being a coach as well. What does it mean to you, football?
00:35Well, I think FOMO gave me a lot of joy and as well I share those joy with some of the fans
00:44who appreciate me and appreciate to see me playing the games. Football as well helped me to put my
00:50kid on a good side in life, to have a good start of life. And it means a lot for me, it's been a lot
00:57for me to be honest. What's your earliest memory of playing the game?
01:00When I was a child, my childhood was, it was, was joyful to be honest. Being born in the family
01:09of a strong man as a military guy, like because my father was from the military, he's, he's
01:15been something not really easy to deal with it because he's someone very strong to be honest.
01:20When you say that he was really strong, what do you mean? Was he strict?
01:23You know, the military men, they're very strict in the sense that they want the kids to understand
01:30and get the things right, for example, because I remember at some point where when you do
01:36a mess in the house, it's quite direct and quite strong, right?
01:40That's it. You know what I mean, Kelly. But it's all good, you know, and the sense of the
01:47development, my development, and as a person and as a player as well, you know, have this
01:52kind of focus, understanding and straight, going straight forward to the, to the, to the
01:57what we want to do is, it's been, it's been good.
01:59Can you remember the first team that you played for?
02:01Yeah, I remember. It was, in French, we call it, because in Ivory Coast, the economic city
02:10of Ivory Coast is Abidjan. I was born in Boaké. At my seven or eight, we leave Boaké because
02:17my, my father was, have to do his duty in another city, especially in Abidjan. And I went there
02:22and we're going to school there with my brothers and friends. In the early days, to be honest,
02:28I was not only doing football, I was doing a lot of things, right? Basketballs, Taekwondo's.
02:34I wanted to try, you know, because I'm a curious person, to be honest, and I was open to everything.
02:40And at some point when I started to show myself to different coaches, it was one who was saying like,
02:47yeah, I would, I would really like to take you to my clubs and just have a try because you look
02:52interesting. And I said, no problem, interesting. And that's how I joined Incondisional Daljami and
02:57Abidjan. And it was quite fun in the beginning, right? Because I was having to deal with school
03:04and part-time playing football as well. And it was incredible.
03:08You went on to have an incredible career, played at some of the world's biggest clubs.
03:13And was there any particular coach or person that had a massive influence on making you the player that
03:19you were? If I can say that, I think, my family, to be honest, of course, you have a life, you have
03:25the ups and downs, right? And sometimes you have to deal with it. In some moments, you need people
03:31close to you to just put his hand on your shoulder and just support you at the right moment. But I think,
03:38I don't want to forget those people who have been important in my journey as well. For example,
03:43when I was in Ukraine or when I was in Greece, even in Belgium, from the beginning, it was quite
03:48challenging at some period, because imagine a young guy's coming as a 17, coming Europe,
03:54to have to adapt as well, the culture, food, understand. How big a change was that for you?
03:57How tough was that? It was huge for me because I was surprised. For example, imagine see,
04:04come in, see four or five different weather, right? Because in Africa, we have maybe two or one,
04:09right? Yeah. I was like, I have to change these clothes today, tomorrow I have to change another
04:13clothes again. And it was like a bit, I don't want to say annoying, but it was quite something normal,
04:19you know, just to adapt. What was it like though, leaving Africa as a youngster, when you're clearly
04:26quite a proud African as well? How was that for you? First of all, it was a joy, because I want to get
04:32out from there, to be honest. I thought you were going to say it was really hard, I was going to miss everyone.
04:36No, I wanted that for a long time, to be honest. From the beginning, people, what they don't
04:41understand or they don't know about me is that I've always been a fan of football, right? And when
04:46I was young, I was always close to the TV watching football, especially European football, you know,
04:50and I was watching Paris Saint-Germain playing Spanish football at that time. And I have my proper idea,
04:56right? Like, if I want to be among the best players around the world, that's where I have to be,
05:03right? And at 17, people would see that maybe it would be weird, but I was really happy to be there.
05:14You had particularly incredible times at both Barcelona and Manchester City.
05:19Yeah. What was that period at Manchester City in particular like?
05:23I think it's something I'm really proud of, to be honest. In the beginning, it was quite challenging,
05:28right? The fact that fans, media as well, was questioning me more about the income than what
05:35I'm going to bring to the clubs. People as well would be skeptical about my arrival at Man City,
05:40because they were thinking it was not the right move to do. And I feel so delighted is that
05:46I make them run, right? The fact that I deliver what I should deliver, that's what I'm proud of.
05:51My second year in Barcelona, I arrive and we make such a sixth trophy in one year. I'll never forget
05:59the final I've been playing in the different positions. I know it was quite risky, because
06:04some of my teammates were talking to me before the game and saying, you're going to play United,
06:08and there's going to be Cristiano Ronaldo is going to be United, it's going to be Rune coming to you.
06:13And I was like, yeah, I want to embrace the challenge, no problem. But inside me, I was quite a bit
06:19worried, you know, because as an older midfielder, it's fine. But defender, you know,
06:26any mistake can cost you a lot, right? And it can stay in your brain for long. But what I'm most
06:30proud of is to help City to get to start the journey, right? To be one at an elite club in
06:36England now is something I'm really proud of. When did the coaching journey begin then?
06:41To be honest with you, Kelly, I was sat at home and watching TV, for example, and I feel
06:45it will start to be a little bit annoying, right? I didn't take that seriously in any moment,
06:51because I want to have this kind of freedom, just relax, because my body was hurt of a lot of,
06:59you know, a lot of difficult moments about games, about injuries, as you can imagine. And I want to
07:06have that time of period of be myself and relax and doing nothing for maybe one or two, three months,
07:12if that was my plan in the beginning. What changed? What happened? After maybe two, three days,
07:17I start to be annoying. Is that what your family told you? Yeah, I start to be annoying. I start to
07:22walk around by myself, turning around, watching games, all the games, I was prompt on it. You missed
07:28it, didn't you? Yeah, because I know Premier League is going to be at the time. I know that La Liga is
07:34going to start at eight. I know the French League is going to start at seven. I was all the time,
07:38on the right time, watching TV, and I was like, thinking like, what am I doing? And after that,
07:43I started the journey of thinking about building something suitable for me, you know, and that's
07:49how I start to get in the journey of coaching, started to do all the badges possible. Now I've
07:54completed. I've been in Tottenham Academy for some while. I've been in Russia, Ukraine, and the last one,
08:02I was in Saudi recently. It was something enjoyable. Difficult moment, not so easy, but I think
08:09I needed to do that, right, to be ready, because I hope one day people are going to watch me
08:14with my team as a coach. Which coaches that you've played under have particularly influenced
08:20you and the manager that you want to be? I think Raikard and Mancini. When I went to Barcelona
08:25in the time of Raikard, it was impressive because Raikard was always telling me, yeah,
08:29yeah, I don't want you to go further because you play deep midfielder role. Xavi Iniesta in front of you,
08:34you can't pass them to play the ball in front of them because you're supposed to be behind them.
08:39I think you physically, you can give more to the team. And I said, okay, well, let's see it. And
08:43after that, he put me in the game and I was running everywhere.
08:46But he saw, I was not convinced. What he did at some point, he called me. He wanted to see me face
08:52to face. We'll have a chat, maybe look some, some movie, for example. I said, movie? Why do you want
08:58me to watch? I don't want to watch movies with you. Gaffer, he said, why do you want me to watch?
09:03He said, wait. And when everyone was off, we go in his private room and we put the videos and he watched,
09:10he showed me all my action during the game we play. I remember against Zaragoza. I'll never
09:15forget that. He take his, you have a small book on his hand. He was like, look, last time I told you
09:20that, right? I said, yeah, yeah. But look, that one, I tell you to not do it. Look at that. Look how
09:24it looks. From that day, when I left his office, I never talk again, ever, because it was like
09:31something new to me. And again, he was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, what does this guy want
09:35for me? All the time he's calling me. Why don't you call Puyolo? Don't call Alves? Why
09:40he owes me? I was like, you have something against me, this guy. But at some point, he was right.
09:45And he showed me that for 45 minutes. Even I was like shot and sit on there and shocked and like,
09:51yeah, yeah. And since that day, my brain changed a lot. And the second one was Mancini and the time
09:56of, in terms of dedication and in terms of passion, you know, the decision he gave it,
10:02how intense he gave, how much he's getting involved. And sometimes it may be quite a bit
10:09strange, you know, when you see a coach grab you and say, you have to do that, do that. And after
10:13that, in training, show you some videos and push you to get better and better. That's the two people
10:18who impact me a lot, to be honest.
10:24You're one of three and your brother, Kolo, your careers have kind of been interlinked throughout.
10:29What's that been like growing up with that dynamic?
10:31I always say that I was the best one.
10:34I always say that because it was a bit of a rivalry between me and him. But at some point,
10:39I felt he get to the point that he knows I was better in some part of the games than him.
10:44I think him physically was better because that's all this kind of coming down from my father as
10:49well, right? Because he was very focused, dedicated and, you know, he's always have that
10:54discipline, right? And for me, at some point, I tried to run away from it, but I cannot because
11:03he was always close to me and shouting at me. But me and Kolo, we've always been that type of thing,
11:08but at some point, Kolo realised that I was like a bit better. But he was not frustrated because he
11:15wanted to push that boundary very far, right? Who's going to be the best and who's going to achieve
11:19more? And at some point, I get better. Poor Kolo. Are you close, the two of you?
11:26Yeah, at some point, to be honest, because life at the end of the day, at some point,
11:31get it where each one of you have to go in your own way, right? And I really understand that and
11:37I respect that, to be honest. How would your friends and family describe you?
11:41Funny guy, to be honest. But yeah, but I think people maybe think I have a lot of,
11:53I have a lot of friends around me at some point. But to tell you, Kelly, I'm the type of guys who
11:59are very reserved, very private, to be honest. We maybe don't see a lot of people around me,
12:05by example. I'm very... Why is that? The people you're going to see around me is the close one,
12:11right? You're going to see a small group of people around me. Because at my point of view,
12:15I don't believe in fact, to have a lot of people around you is going to help you a lot,
12:20especially in the football career, because it's so demanding and you have so many sacrifices
12:26that have to be made. And if you're very disciplining, disciplining, as I said, my father
12:32teach me and my brother about that, you can have a success, right? But if you'll be,
12:36you know, too much on it, or too much of enjoyment, I think it's going to be difficult for you to make
12:42it, right? At some point. And that's what I believe in. That's why I stick with it for almost
12:48all my career, if you can say that. If you could only achieve one more thing
12:51in your life, what would it be? I think, and I believe I'm never going to stop,
12:55because I belong to one thing, to be honest. Going further and further and as far as possible
13:00as a coach, maybe, yeah, at some point, winning trophies with my team, bring joys to the players,
13:09and bring joys as well to the people who have been supporting me for quite a while, to be honest.
13:15What type of team is a Yaya Toure team going to look like?
13:17People will be very, very excited. Even me, I can't wait to see that. I hope it's going to,
13:24at some point it's going to happen. I'm very positive and I'm really looking forward to
13:28what's going to happen again. I'm looking forward to seeing a Yaya Toure team when you do take over.
13:32Thank you so much for your time today. Insha'Allah. Thank you for your time today.
13:35Thank you very much, Kelly, for inviting me and it was a pleasure.
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