Yaya Toure: Manchester City can be a big club like Barcelona

Yaya Toure believes Manchester City can be as big as Barcelona one day.

The midfielder, who used to play for the Catalan giants, has praised his former club for their style of play and work through their academy.

But he insists that City can compete with Pep Guardiola’s side in the future due to their financial backing.

“Man City is going to start doing that buy more star players and in a couple of years and will become a big club like Barcelona,” Toure told Goal.com. “For us, we have to work every chance we get, to do our best to compete with a big club like Barcelona.”

Stars such as Xavi and Andres Iniesta have come through the ranks to cement their places in the first-team at Barcelona.

Toure added: “Man City is one of the biggest financial clubs. They have a lot of money and can buy anyone they want.

“For Barcelona, when I was there, it was more than a club, it was very academic. Their formation is amazing and players like Xavi and Iniesta, and players like that, they came from the academy.”

Toure and Manchester City wrapped up their North American tour on Sunday against LA Galaxy after hosting a charity beach party event for the East Los Angeles Boys and Girls Club in Long Beach two days earlier. Hundreds of excited kids of all ages got the opportunity to meet and play football with some of City’s finest and compete in a penalty shootout against goalkeeper Joe Hart.