ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE Arsenal v Manchester City:KOLO TOURE has spoken publicly for the first time about the breakdown in his relationship with William Gallas and admitted that it was the tension of not being on speaking terms with one of his team-mates, refusing even to talk during matches, that made him decide to leave Arsenal.

The bad feeling between the two former central defensive partners became so deep-rooted, according to Toure, they would not even discuss match instructions.

Toure eventually became so disillusioned he handed in a transfer request and, even though it was rejected initially, he had made up his mind that the situation was both intolerable and irreparable, eventually moving to Manchester City last summer for €18.4 million.

“When you play with somebody and you don’t even talk to each other on the pitch it’s really difficult,” he said. “Me and Gallas . . . we didn’t talk to each other at all. One of us had to go and it was me. It was coming down to me really because I didn’t want to put the team in a difficult position, so I was the one who said I wanted to go.

“As a player, I had great respect for Gallas because he was older than me and in Africa when someone is older you have respect for them, but I think sometimes he took advantage of that in some ways. I had six years at Arsenal but the last two were very difficult.

“It can happen in football that you argue with somebody in training but when you are not even talking on the pitch something has to change.”

Toure will be back at Arsenal today, leading out City in a match laced with sub-plots, most notably Emmanuel Adebayor’s first return to the club since that rancorous encounter at Eastlands last September, when he raked his studs down Robin van Persie’s face and celebrated scoring by running almost the entire length of the pitch to goad the Arsenal fans.

Adebayor is guaranteed a hostile reception whereas Toure and Patrick Vieira can expect a much more positive reaction from the Arsenal fans but, for City’s captain, there will be mixed feelings when he reflects on the way his feud with Gallas forced his departure.

On one occasion, in December 2008, Gallas is said to have torn into his younger team-mate after a scoreless draw at Aston Villa, with Toure apparently disappointed that Arsene Wenger did not defend him. Toure lost his place and his suspicion is that there was “a player who got the manager believing that he and I had no understanding on the field”.

Wenger did attempt to heal the rift but eventually accepted it was beyond repair and ultimately decided he could dispense with Toure.

“I think he understood he had to sell one of us,” Toure said. “I didn’t want to make any trouble to Arsenal because I had a really good time there and they gave me my chance. I was nobody when I went there and there is no problem with Arsene; not at all, I have huge respect for him.

“But I was not feeling happy in the team and, for me, I was looking for somewhere else and a new challenge.”

Toure (29) was reluctant to reveal what was at the centre of his arguments with Gallas, three years his senior, explaining that “it is difficult and if we start talking about that then it will be a big story.” However, he said it had nothing to do with Gallas’s infamous sit-down protest after Arsenal had conceded a last-minute equaliser against Birmingham City at St Andrew’s in February 2008.

“That kind of thing can happen but, after he did that, he never did anything like that again. It was just a reaction after a game. I know that he would never do that again. But it was more a misunderstanding between him and me.”

Wenger, meanwhile, has appealed for calm ahead of Arsenal’s reunion with their former striker Adebayor.

“To have a go at Adebayor doesn’t help us to win the game,” he said. “We want to show some style and quality. We have some big players coming back (Adebayor, Patrick Vieira and Kolo Toure) and we want our fans to respect what they have done and to encourage our team.”

Wenger intends to also have a calming chat with Van Persie, who is ready to start his first game in five months after rupturing an ankle ligament.

Guardian Service