The 28-year-old joined Manchester City on a four-year deal to follow in the footsteps of his teammate Emmanuel Adebayor, who also moved to the Eastlands.

"I came to Man City because when you look at Arsenal you see all the great players have left the club and are now in the past," Toure was quoted as saying by English media.

"Look at what has happened there. Thierry Henry has gone, Patrick Vieira has gone, Ray Parlour has gone.

"These were the players that brought success to Arsenal and I believed it was right at this stage of my career to also move on.

"We lost too many leaders at Arsenal. When we were winning the league title the spirit was fantastic, we were like a band of brothers."

Toure joined Arsenal from Ivorian giants ASEC Mimosas in 2002 and went on to become a key defender for the Gunners.

He won with them the Premier League title in 2004 and the FA Cup the following year.