Toure wants City brother-act

Kolo Toure would love to see his brother Yaya in a Manchester City shirt after admitting the Barcelona performer is unhappy at Camp Nou.

Yaya has courted the interest of England's elite in seasons gone by, with the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea all linked with a move for the powerful 26-year-old.

The Gunners came closest to signing the Ivory Coast international, before the midfield anchorman snubbed the overtures of the Premier League for a move to Spanish giants Barcelona in 2007.

Yaya has since enjoyed a mixed time with the Catalan outfit - for despite inking a one-year extension with Barca in the summer, the defensive midfielder has been in and out of the side this term, with boss Pep Guardiola preferring Sergi Busquets for the holding role.

City manager Mark Hughes flew to Spain to watch Yaya play against Osasuna last week and the Eastlands skipper is hoping his boss liked what he saw.

Hope

Asked if he would like to see City buy his younger brother, Kolo told The Manchester Evening News : "I hope so. He is a good player, and if he could come to our team that would be great.

"He has had a few hard times in Barcelona. He doesn't play a lot, and he loves football and loves to play.

"If he can come, especially to a club in England, he would be really happy because the Premier League is a fantastic place to play football."

And Kolo believes his versatile sibling - who can also operate at centre back, like he did in the UEFA Champions League final win over Manchester United last term - would assist the Blues' quest for a top-four finish.

"Technically he is very good and can hold up the ball, and is a great passer with great vision," the 28-year-old said. "He also has a great desire to win."

Killer

The feeling is that Hughes will dip into the market during the January transfer window to boost his side's fortunes after five consecutive draws have seen them slip off the pace at the top of England's top-tier.

The last of those stalemates was Saturday's 3-3 thriller against Burnley and Toure said the latest slip-up was a bitter pill to swallow.

"It's killing me," said the former Arsenal man. "When you give away three goals at home, with all respect to Burnley, it is very, very difficult to take.

"The dressing room was quiet afterwards because we know we lost two points. We didn't play very well as a team, especially the back four.

"We have to improve our defending, including myself," he added. "But we have not known each other for long, and for a defence to work it takes more time.

"We are improving but still have a long way to go. We have enough quality players to defend better than we did, especially in the first half. In the second-half we were getting more of the second balls, but we have to take the responsibility at the back - we should have done better because our strikers did very well.

"We need to be stronger and work more collectively as defenders."

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