Nasri: Toure ‘undervalued’ because he is African
/dnl.eurosport.com/sd/img/placeholder/eurosport_logo_1x1.png){kind=logo}
ByEurosport
Updated 04/03/2014 at 14:59 GMT
Samir Nasri believes that Manchester City team-mate Yaya Toure’s footballing talents are “undervalued” because he is African.
Manchester City's Jesus Navas (C) celebrates with team mates Yaya Toure (R) and Samir Nasri (L) after scoring goal against Sunderland during their English League Cup final soccer match at Wembley Stadium in London March 2, 2014 (Reuters)
Image credit: Reuters
Ivory Coast midfielder Toure landed his third successive African Footballer of the Year award in early January, but Nasri believes a player of his calibre deserves further recognition.
“Of course it counts against him being from Ivory Coast,” the Frenchman said in an interview with the Independent.
“If he was Argentinian or Brazilian everyone will talk about him, everyone. You have some Brazilians or Argentinians, I don’t want to say anything wrong, but just because they are from this country you pay them £40m or £50m.”
Toure capped another impressive performance with a sumptuous long range effort on Sunday as City claimed the League Cup, and Nasri makes a compelling argument for the Ivorian’s inclusion amongst the top table of midfielders.
“A guy like Yaya, he won every trophy, he is always there. Tell me one defensive midfielder who can go forward like him, who can score 16 or 17 goals in a season. Tell me one and then we can talk.
“You should know now [how good he is]. I might be a little bit biased because he’s my friend, but for me he’s in the top three of the best midfielders in the world.”
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement