Green Street Hammers
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West Ham don’t need Yaya Toure’s disruptive influence

By Scott Johnson

MILAN, ITALY - OCTOBER 04: Gonzalo Higuain (C) of AC Milan is challenged by Yaya Toure (R) and Guilherme (L) of Olympiacos during the UEFA Europa League Group F match between AC Milan and Olympiacos at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on October 4, 2018 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
MILAN, ITALY - OCTOBER 04: Gonzalo Higuain (C) of AC Milan is challenged by Yaya Toure (R) and Guilherme (L) of Olympiacos during the UEFA Europa League Group F match between AC Milan and Olympiacos at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on October 4, 2018 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images) /
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West Ham have reportedly been linked with current free agent Yaya Toure. This is not a move the rapidly climbing East London club want to make right now.

If you’d told me a few years ago that Yaya Toure might be coming to West Ham I’d have been thrilled. Maybe even at the start of the season I would have felt he could have bolstered the midfield and lent an experienced head to the dressing room. Now I don’t want a big, and potentially disruptive, personality like Toure’s having a negative effect on the dressing room.

The club are on one of their best runs in living memory. Not even in the last season at the Boleyn did we get this many wins in a row. The side is coming together and despite injuries it is performing exceptionally well and you can tell from the on field atmosphere that everyone is getting on well. Rumours of Chicharito leaving are dissipating with each performance in a Hammers shirt, and rightly so. As such, adding a player who could change the feel of the club mid season isn’t a great idea.

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Yaya Toure, in his prime, was a great player. The way he could carry the ball through the midfield, after winning it himself, and distribute the ball to an attacker, or have a go himself, was genuinely terrifying to any opposition. Just ask Rodger Johnson. I’m pretty sure that poor defender is still having nightmare’s about that semi-final of the League Cup.

He always had a big personality, but the performances were enough to warrant it. Now, he’s been released by Olympiakos less than 6 months into the season and there are serious questions about whether his ego and his ability are on the same level. This is a player who loves to win trophies and I don’t think, at 35 years old, he’s going to be able to do that at a club like West Ham in the Premier League. As such, I’d expect some birthday cake incidents and issues before long in East London.

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Whilst he may be better than some of our back up players I think the atmosphere in the dressing room would be much better when bringing a youngster in, or a Championship player looking to prove themselves, than someone like Toure. Future success is more likely that trophies galore this season, and Toure is unlikely to be any help in a long term plan.