City need to get rid of ‘sour apple’ Toure to become a great side

Manchester City have a limited budget due to FFP but they are still bringing in a couple of players in and getting their business done earlier and quietly. That's what the great teams do – they 'top-up' after having had a good season. City look to be following the model that Manchester United used under Sir Alex Ferguson but they need to win back-to-back titles to be considered a truly great Premier League team. Then nobody can question them.

The big question mark for them though has to be Yaya Toure. At the end of the day, they don’t need a sour apple in the barrel. City have reached a level where they have to be bigger than any one individual and it is one player who is causing problems – he has to go.

His actions since the season has finished are the actions of a man who wants to leave. What he is doing now is the same as what he did at Barcelona – it is just the excuses that are different. He always seems to be chasing money so what City need to do is turn around and say to him: 'Fine, you can go.'

Barcelona got rid of him, and it didn't do them any harm. City have a couple of ex-Barcelona men upstairs now so they should know exactly what he's about.

Of course Toure is one of the best at what he does but he is not irreplaceable. City can go out and get a different style of player. It is like when Manchester United replaced Bryan Robson with Roy Keane.

City need to do something similar because they need a happy camp. The reason why they didn't go back-to-back the last time is because the manager upset some of the players.

Again, City just have to look at what their neighbours did when they were successful. If Yaya Toure behaved as he did under Sir Alex he would have gone – simply as that.

Fergie let some big names go, and was always questioned for it, but he would then win the title the next season. He never kept bad apples at the club - he got rid of them before they  had a chance to infect the barrel.