Tottenham Hotspur’s newest academy coach could end up being a pretty giant name in football. According to the Evening Standard, Yaya Toure is set to have a meeting with the club this month to discuss potentially joining Spurs full time as a member of the youth coaching staff.
You might remember back in December that Toure had been working on a limited basis with Spurs’ U-18 players while he earned his coaching badges. According to the Standard, initially he had been working just one day a week but has more recently upped his contact time with the academy players.
Now, it looks as though he’s going to be having conversations with Tottenham for a full time position. I’ve heard from a number of different sources that the Spurs academy coaches have been impressed with how he works with the Tottenham youth, and that the players themselves really enjoy working with him.
Tottenham has a good academy, and starting out working with Spurs’ youth players has been a good way of getting your feet wet in coaching. Ryan Mason, notably, turned his experience working with the U18s into an interim head coaching position after Jose Mourinho was sacked, and now has position on Antonio Conte’s first team staff beginning this season. Ledley King had a similar path while he worked on his coaching badges, as did current Bournemouth boss Scott Parker.
I’m sure it’s been a thrill for the youngsters to work with a player with the pedigree of Toure — he was a superstar player for Manchester City and Barcelona during his playing career. This isn’t (yet) confirmation that he’s got the job, and I’m sure Yaya will have more than one offer as he looks for his next opportunity in coaching. Maybe Spurs can sweeten the deal by giving him a birthday cake when he turns 39 on Friday.