ON HIS ARSENE
I slide tackled Arsene Wenger and Thierry Henry on my Arsenal trial – I couldn’t believe manager’s reaction
Arsene Wenger was left with a swollen ankle after the tackle
RAY PARLOUR has recounted a story in which Kolo Toure took out both Thierry Henry and Arsene Wenger during his Arsenal trial.
The defender had a short trial with Arsenal in 2002, having spent his youth career at ASEC Mimosas in the Ivory Coast.
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Toure, 42, made his mark in the trial as Parlour revealed that his enthusiasm to tackle caused manager Arsene Wenger to get "irritated".
Parlour, 50, said on : "The first ball goes into [Thierry] Henry, and from nowhere, Kolo Toure takes him out.
"Wenger is like, 'Kolo, no kicking!' Next minute, they swap over [Dennis] Bergkamp goes up against Toure now.
"The ball goes in, and he takes Bergkamp out! So now, Wenger is getting really irritated.
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"'Kolo, no tackle, no tackle', he said. Toure is going, 'OK boss, sorry, sorry'.
"We had big games coming up, and with Henry and Bergkamp out, we could not win the league, simple as that... and we had a trialist kick them!
"So anyway, the next ball goes in, and Toure makes a really good interception.
"The ball spins up, and then he follows the ball, the ball lands right at Arsene Wenger's feet. Boof, he takes him out!"
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Wenger did not come out of the challenge unscathed as he had to retreat to the physio room.
The Frenchman suffered a swollen ankle and returned to the training pitch with an ice pack to help deal with the injury.
But instead of casting out Toure, he handed him a full-time contract with a £150,000 transfer from ASEC Mimosas.
Toure could not help but hold back his laughter as Parlour told the story from his point of view.
He added: "I was so enthusiastic! I could not believe I was training with these guys.
"I was coming there and playing with people who were my idols, and when the game started, I wanted to show people what I was capable of doing.
"I was trying to tackle everything I could... including the manager!"
Toure went on to become a cult hero at Arsenal as he became a member of the Invincibles squad during the 2003/04 season.
He went on to have a successful Premier League career and enjoyed spells with Manchester City and Liverpool before joining Celtic in 2016.
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After hanging up his boots, he went into coaching.
Following two years at Leicester City he picked up his one and only manager job at Wigan but was sacked after only nine games.
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