Yaya ‘one of the best ever’ insists former City star Frank Lampard

Former Manchester City and Chelsea star Frank Lampard has hailed Yaya Toure as one of the Premier League’s greatest ever midfielders.

Toure is set to leave City this summer after eight years with the club – a period in which he picked up seven major honours, including three Premier League titles.

And Lampard, who played alongside the Ivorian during his brief spell at The Etihad in 2014/15, says the 34-year-old is one of the best midfielder to ever grace the English top flight.

“I would put Yaya Toure in the top five of the toughest midfield opponents I faced in my career,” said Lampard of his former team-mate, “at his peak he could change games on his own.

“Steven Gerrard probably edges it as the best I have played against, for his consistency over the years, but Yaya is up there along with Roy Keane, Patrick Vieira and Paul Scholes – which shows how highly I rate him.”

He continued: “Yaya has played in so many positions but I preferred him as a deep-lying midfielder because he could do things there that others were not capable of.

“He controlled possession and set the tempo for the team – then he unloaded and went forward to create or score. I loved that because it made him different, and made him very difficult to mark.”

Despite leaving City this summer however, Toure is not expected to leave the Premier League.

A host of Premier League teams, including Chelsea and newly promoted Wolves are reportedly ready to take on the veteran midfielder.

And Lampard believes despite his age, Toure still has the quality to cut it at the highest level.

“Yaya will not be short of offers from Premier League clubs either, and he apparently would prefer to stay in England,” said Lamps.

“He is a big lad and, when you are built like he is, you have to stay on top of things fitness-wise because otherwise the game is so quick, it gets difficult.

“But in terms of the quality he has, I think he is more than capable of extending his career here.”

With the new batch of City stars like Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Gabriel Jesus it is easy to forget Yaya but the midfielder took Man City into a different league when he agreed to join the team from Barcelona and success on the field followed.