Scott McTominay has admitted that Yaya Toure is one of the midfielders he modelled his game on.
The Manchester United dynamo revealed that he looked up to midfielders who had a similar height and build to him, such as Toure in an interview with FootballJOE on YouTube.
Despite the rivalry between United and City, it seems like the Scottish international put that aside to appreciate greatness.
Scott McTominay says he modelled his game on Yaya Toure
The Ivorian’s legacy is set in stone as one of the best midfielders of his generation, especially considering how influential he was in a Manchester City shirt.
Nedum Onuoha believes the former Barcelona maestro was a much more decisive player than the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva.
Now, Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay has shared his admiration for Yaya Toure.
“It’s always midfield players who were a similar height and a similar style to yourself you always watch growing up as a kid. When I was younger, I was a lot smaller so maybe like 5’10” so I used to watch players that height and then you can’t imagine yourself growing up and being the height that I am now”, he told FootballJOE.
“I started watching people like [Zinedine] Zidane, Yaya Toure, similar sort of height and build, just tried to emulate what they do as best as I could do.”
Yaya Toure was extremely influential
The fact that Yaya Toure managed to inspire a Manchester United academy graduate in Scott McTominay speaks volumes about his impact.
Not only due to how elite a midfielder the ex-AS Monaco star was but also how technically gifted and graceful he was for a player of his size.
It is reductive to simply put down all of Yaya Toure’s best traits to pace and power as he proved that his physical dominance was matched by his intelligence, match-winning ability and enviable passing range. Of course, Scott McTominay still has a way to go to even show glimpses of Yaya Toure in his game.
But for a midfielder, who is built like the Manchester City icon, one can completely understand why he looked up to him growing up.
