The 35-year-old may not be a regular fixture on the team sheet, but he’s rarely out of the gym at Celtic Park.
Kolo Toure has a regular target for critics at times this season but, according to Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers, his impact off the pitch cannot be understated.
The 35-year-old Ivorian has won almost every trophy possible in a long career comprising of largely successful stints with Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool, lifting two Premier League titles and two FA Cups apiece.
Celtic boss Rodgers wasted no time in bringing Toure, who he signed on a free during his tenure at Anfield, to Glasgow in the summer though two high-profile mistakes in a crucial Champions League home defeat to Borussia Monchengladbach have rather undermined his influence.
Furthermore, the centre-back has started just five Scottish Premiership games this season with his ageing limbs denying him the opportunity to play with regularity.
However, Rodgers beleives Toure’s determination and commitment to the game can act as an inspiration for the club’s next generation.
“I took [the academy players] into the gym and who was in there doing his activation, doing his stretching, doing his work? Kolo Toure. He’s 35,” Rodgers told the Daily Record.
“He could have been away home but, a few hours after he’d finished training, he was in the gym on his own, stretching.
“That’s what you need to do to be a top player’.
Rodgers has an impressive record bringing through young talents and he has made no secret of his desire to give a number of Celtic’s teenage starlets an opportunity in the first-team this season.
And the presence of players with the personality and longevity of Toure will only reinforce Rodgers’ desire to instil professionalism into the club’s next group of stars.
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