FORMER MANCHESTER CITY midfielder Yaya Toure is working with Tottenham’s academy this week as he builds towards his coaching badges.
The 38-year-old, who played 316 times for City between 2010 and 2018, started at Hotspur Way on Wednesday to gain more experience.
It is understood he will spend a couple of days a week at the club as he continues towards his A License, though there is no set time.
Toure will work in a department overseen by academy manager Dean Rastrick, working alongside Chris Powell, and will have no direct involvement with the first team.
There is a promising crop of youngsters in the Spurs academy, with 17-year-old striker Dane Scarlett tipped for big things while Dilan Markanday recently became the first British-Asian player to represent the first team.
The Ivorian, who retired from playing in 2020, has previously spent time working with QPR and most recently the FAW, and has held coaching positions at Ukrainian club Olimpik Donetsk and Russian side Akhmat Grozny.
However, with his family located in London, Toure was keen to build his experience closer to them and has found Spurs to be accommodating.
Meanwhile, Antonio Conte has admitted that managing Tottenham is his biggest challenge yet.
Conte has quickly become aware of just how big a task it will be to get Spurs back to the top table of English football after an eye-opening first four weeks in charge.
The Italian said that the level was “not high” after the embarrassing Europa Conference League defeat to Slovenian minnows NS Mura last week.
And Conte believes delivering success like he did at Chelsea, Juventus and Inter Milan will be his toughest ever task.
“Biggest challenge, yes. But as I said in Mura, I’m not scared about this,” he said ahead of Thursday’s clash with Brentford.
“I have a lot of enthusiasm. When I arrive here, I enjoy the situation. I enjoy to work with the players, I enjoy to speak with the club, I enjoy to create a good base. Now the most important thing is this – to create a good base and then to build something important.
“We need a bit of time but I’m sure we can improve a lot and give satisfaction to our fans.
“But this is a big challenge for me. This is a big challenge for the club. This is a big challenge for the players. For everybody.”
