5 footballers who retired this season

#3 Yaya Toure

Yaya Toure has been regarded as one of the greatest African players of all time

Former Manchester City, Barcelona and Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure retired from the game after having his contract terminated by Greek side Olympiakos this season. Toure aspired to be a striker during his youth but played as a center-back for Barcelona in the 2009 Champions League final.

Toure spent the majority of his career as a box-to-box midfielder for club and country, where he has been regarded as one of the world's best players in his position. One of the greatest African players of all time, Touré was voted African Footballer of the Year for 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

Toure's key strengths were his passing range, vision, and physical ability. He was gifted with good technique and ball control, although he also excelled defensively at breaking down opposing attacking plays and winning back possession through his powerful tackling ability.

Toure was known for his pace, stamina and physical presence, which was often combined with lung-bursting runs from midfield, and he has been referred to as a "human train" and a "colossus" by various pundits. He was also capable of scoring goals due to his powerful striking ability from distance, and his heading ability, as well as his recently developed adeptness at scoring from set-pieces and penalties.

Yaya Toure might have seen his career end on a low, but his agent recently said that Toure plans to enter the coaching world and given that he was such a technical player, there are high hopes that he will have a highly successful managerial career.