Toure: "Premier League is Amazing"

Manchester City has made a huge splash in the transfer market recently. One of their biggest moves was paying £22 million for midfielder Yaya Toure. Toure, the Ivory Coast international, spent three seasons at Barcelona before making a move to join his brother Kolo at Man City.

Some may perceive Toure's move from Barcelona as a step down for his career. Of course Yaya doesn't think that himself. Here is Toure (all quotes acquired from soccernet.espn.com): "I don't think this is a step down.

"The Premier League is amazing. It is stronger than La Liga. And Manchester City are making great strides within it. In future they will be a big club. Every team in every country is starting to talk about the club. They know we are signing good, important players and I want to do my bit. I don't feel pressure. I do have a lot of experience and I am determined to do my very best to make this club successful.''

"When you sign for any team, the most important thing is the contact you have with the trainer. When they do something and they put pressure on in some way to sign you it is very important. When you don't talk with the trainer it is bad. That is why I came to Manchester City. We have a fantastic coach and we are signing good players. It will be great here this year.

"I love the Premier League. I have always wanted to play here. The biggest players play here. People like Steven Gerrard and my biggest friend Didier Drogba. Physically it is good. You have to be strong and I am thirsty to do well here. There are so many big teams - Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United and the rest. But City are here now and maybe for United that is not so nice because we are making good progress. I really want to see how they do against us.''

The Premier League is definitely a deeper league than La Liga, although I do think Barcelona is the best club in the world. In La Liga, it's basically a competition between Barcelona and Real Madrid for the top spot. Wile in the Premier League, there are four or five teams that can go out and win the league right now.

In the last two years Manchester City have acquired Shay Given, Nigel De Jong, Craig Bellamy, Gareth Barry, Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor, Kolo Toure, Patrick Viera, Yaya Toure, David Silva, and Jerome Boateng. This team has bought itself into contention for the top four spots in the league. They have great players, but can they put it together as a team and win games?