Wenger saw Toure potential

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was in no doubt Yaya Toure would make it big one day - even if the Manchester City midfielder was "average" when he turned out for the Gunners as a raw youngster in a pre-season friendly.

Toure, 28, arrived at from Barcelona in a £24million deal in August 2010. The career of the Ivory Coast Champions League winner could, though, have been so different, having impressed on a trial at Arsenal in 2003, when his brother Kolo was also at the club, only to then opt for a move to Metalurh Donetsk in Ukraine because of delays over international clearance.

Wenger, who takes his side to Barclays Premier League leaders City on Sunday, recalled the then teenager's first and only appearance for the Gunners against Barnet at Underhill, saying: "I have known him since he was 15."

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