Yaya Toure joins Saudi Arabia as assistant coach only 5 months after Standard Liege appointment

Yaya Toure has been named the new assistant coach of the Saudi Arabia national team, joining Roberto Mancini as part of the coaching team. The Italian previously coached Toure at Manchester City, with the pair laying the groundwork to establish the Sky Blues as a top team in the Premier League. 

The Ivorian was most recently the head coach of Belgian side Standard Liege, but has now made the move to national team duty under his former manager with immediate effect. 

Yaya Toure joins Saudi Arabia national team as assistant coach 

As a coach, the former Manchester City and Barcelona midfielder has taken charge of Ukrainian club Donetsk Olympic, Russia’s Grozny, and worked as an academy coach at Tottenham Hotspur alongside Standard Liege, whom he had only joined in June. 

In August, Roberto Mancini left the Italian national team to join Saudi Arabia, after signing a $25m-per-year deal. And now, the country has taken one more step to improve the quality of football by adding Yaya Toure to their national team. 

Saudi Arabia is also set to host the 2034 World Cup, after being the only country to submit an official bid within the deadline. Following in the footsteps of their neighbours and rivals, Qatar, they are now stepping up the quality of their national team to prepare for the World Cup.