Kolo's the complete performer

14 April 2012

Come tomorrow morning at the Arsenal hotel in the West Midlands, Kolo Toure will discover which guise he will need to don against Birmingham at St Andrew's a few hours later.

Injuries and suspensions have bitten deep into the resources of manager Arsene Wenger. Ray Parlour, Lauren, Patrick Vieira and Martin Keown will be absent in the wake of the Old Trafford fracas in September. So will Gilberto Silva, jet-lagged after his World Cup qualification duty with Brazil. And he looks certain to be joined by Sylvain Wiltord, who was injured playing for France last Saturday.

Wenger will spend tonight pondering how to make best use of a player who has become his find of the season and one of his prize assets. At £250,000, Toure is the defintive bargain and although Arsenal have had to raid the coffers to secure the 22-year-old from the Ivory Coast on a new four-year deal, he still represents the soundest of investments.

Toure has shown himself to be equally adept in central defence, where his partnership with Sol Campbell oozes brute strength and pace, at full-back where he played with some distinction against Valencia in the Champions League last season, or in midfield, from where he scored a vital equalising goal against Chelsea in the Premiership last season.

However, the player himself doesn't mind where he starts.

"I am just happy to be playing," he said. "Yes, I prefer to play at the back but I know that the team are more important than Kolo. Where I am asked to play, I will play. Football is my passion and that is why it seems that every time I am on the pitch I enjoy myself. When I am out there, I feel free."

However, that beaming smile soon disappears when Toure is omitted, as he is quick to point out. "Then you see another Kolo, one who is not so happy. I just ask myself what I did to be left out and tell myself to work harder to get back in."

But what Toure does have is a sense of perspective. It was not until he was 14, for instance, that he had the luxury of wearing football boots. And before that, was it trainers or regular shoes? Back comes that smile. "No, nothing like that," he said.

"I was in bare feet. Your feet quickly become hard and tough. You get a feel for the ball. And when you are playing in the street and on the sand, you learn how to tackle properly, trust me!

"In fact, it was strange for me when I first wore boots. I did not seem to have the same control as I had before."

Anyway boots cost money and that was not plentiful in the Toure household. His father, Morey, was in the army and struggled to make ends meet as he and his wife Ponontyo raised Toure and his six brothers and two sisters. At 14, Toure was offered a place at the Mimosas academy. "There was hardly any money to go round and it was hard for them," said Toure. "But they helped me all they could and I have never forgotten that, never.

"Because of them, I am able to play the sport I love and I get a little money now. So, yes, I send money home because for me, the family is the most important thing.

"They helped me a lot and now I have the chance to help them."

The home where Toure sends the cash is one he had built for the family near the Ivorian capital of Abidjan. Work is under way on another one so the whole family can live in more comfort. "In Africa, the family is the most important thing. And my family gave me so much that it means a lot to me that I can now do something for them."

Arsenal are now his adopted family - and in the same vein, he will do what it takes to help them at Birmingham. "Where the team needs me, I will play," said Toure. And it certainly beats playing with bare feet and avoiding the bruising challenges in the streets of Abidjan.

Birmingham v Arsenal, St Andrew's, tomorrow, 3pm

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Kolo's the complete performer

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