Crazy Dog adds bite

Ludicrous though it sounds, Thierry Henry has serious competition in the popularity stakes at Highbury. Arsenal’s player-of-the-year accolade may appear to be a formality, but there is a groundswell of support for a young spark from Côte d’Ivoire whose efforts have been startling.

Even Arsène Wenger did not expect what he now calls his revelation of the season. There were promising signs last season, but doubts, too. ‘He was …” the Arsenal manager pauses to search for precisely the right description and then chuckles as he finds it: ‘A crazy dog.”

Kolo ‘Crazy Dog” Touré’s game had such a wild streak that it was possible to marvel at his unbridled enthusiasm while simultaneously fearing that it could undermine his skills. That he was able to harness it so quickly, without compromising his form, is one of the fundamental reasons Arsenal are eyeing prizes.

The defence, which critics identified in pre-season as an accident waiting to happen and the main reason for damning their ambitions to keep up with Manchester United, is the most miserly in the Premiership.

Touré has blocked, hassled, headed, chased, tackled and saved the day with the best of them. He has become so indispensable that one of Arsenal’s best results of the season has to be Côte d’Ivoire’s 2-1 defeat by South Africa. It was the result that prevented Touré and his compatriots from qualifying for the African Nations Cup finals for the first time in 20 years.

But that has not prevented him from being nominated for Africa’s young player of the year award, for which he is up against Steven Pienaar, of South Africa and Ajax, and Obafemi Martins, of Nigeria and Inter Milan.

Cote d’Ivoire, traditionally one of Africa’s most financially powerful nations, used to be known as ‘the economic miracle”.

In Touré, Wenger found his own economic miracle. When he was signed two years ago, classy centre-backs were an expensive commodity — you could buy about 200 Tourés for the price Alex Ferguson paid for Rio Ferdinand.

Wenger has struck lucky with Touré in numerous ways. As well as costing buttons and developing into an outstanding defender just when he desperately needed one, and being able to perform impressively in virtually every position on the field, perhaps the biggest break was that the Arsenal manager was able to bring him to Highbury in the first place.

The best African prospects tend not to come directly to England because of the strict regulations of the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA).

Premiership clubs simply cannot compete with countries whose work-permit rules are more relaxed. Spot a teenage sensation and the only option is to farm him out to a feeder club in, say, Belgium (hence Arsenal’s link with Beveren and United’s with Royal Antwerp), or hope that no one else picks them up before they have played enough international matches to satisfy Gordon Taylor (and then sigh as they go to France, Holland or Spain in the meantime).

Touré is a rare case in coming straight from Africa to England. There is no whiff of rat here. The simple explanation is that most foreign scouts were not bowled over by the boy and he was rejected by several top European clubs. So he played for his local club in Abidjan, the mighty Asec Mimosas, racked up caps for Côte d’Ivoire and prayed for the best.

‘I knew Kolo since he was 17, but what is so amazing is that from the academy he was not the biggest prospect,” Wenger says.

‘But I always felt there was something in him that it is difficult to give to people: great attitude, great enthusiasm and great power. Technically he might have been less gifted than some of his young teammates, but he had that charismatic attitude which makes a difference. I signed him after a one-week trial.”

Touré was a member of the legendary Asec team which created shockwaves in African football in the late 1990s. Having won the African Champions League, they experimented by using the under-17 team for the Super Cup. (And they really were youths — the renowned Asec Academy is so scrupulous that trainees’ ages are determined by measuring the thickness of their bones, a more reliable gauge than some birth certificates.)

The young Ivorians stunned one of the continent’s elite, Espérance of Tunisia, with a performance of staggering verve and artistry. Their 3-1 triumph is the stuff of legend.

‘I was No 4,” he says proudly, the detail important to him. ‘It was fantastic, my highest moment in football so far. That gave me the confidence to believe I could be a professional.

‘I was not the best player in that group, but I was the most clever. In football, and in life, you have to be clever. Now when I call the others I advise them what they have to do and I hope they can make it, too. If they use their brains, they will be much better than me.

”I’d be so proud to see them playing for Arsenal, Manchester, Real Madrid. For me to establish myself at a big team like Arsenal is unbelievable. I thought maybe I’d get there by the age of 28, not 21. It’s a miracle.”

A devout Muslim, Touré thanks God for the help he believes he has been given along the way. In a less spiritual way, he also thanks Arsenal manager Wenger, whom he refers to as ‘The Man”.

The Man and his crazy dog have been very good for each other. Touré follows Wenger’s every word to the letter and hopes that he can continue improving enough to fulfil his ambition to become ‘one of the best players in the world”. He took a giant leap last year, thanks to a re-acquaintance with his favourite position.

Having previously been shuffled all over the park except in goal, he linked up with Sol Campbell at the heart of the defence.

‘I told myself to grab the chance and show the boss that this is my position,” he says. ‘It changed everything. I feel more confident to be playing centre-back and compared to last year I feel a different player.”

For the first three months of the season he was almost flawless. Then Lauren’s suspension/injury necessitated a switch to right-back.

‘It was a bit disappointing,” Touré reflects. ‘I was playing with Sol and it was great. When Lauren was injured, I tried to play for the team and everything went well.”

He plays with such energy and motors forward with such terrifying power that Wenger is still unsure about his best role.

‘I think about him as a centre-back or right-back and he agrees with that,” the manager says. ‘But sometimes I think this guy could make a centre-forward. When he plays closer to the goal he always creates chances and it’s too tempting when I think about it.”

Perhaps the answer is in his brothers and finding a Touré for each position. Frustratingly, midfielder Yaya was sold by Beveren for €2-million before he qualified for an English work permit and the younger Ibrahim, a striker, is still at the Asec Academy, so for now, one Touré must suffice.

‘Hey, Kolo the Superstar!” The whooping cry from assistant manager Pat Rice across the restaurant in Arsenal’s training headquarters is designed to cause embarrassment. It works. Touré mumbles an awkward denial, emphasising that he bears no resemblance to a superstar.

A pay hike — reward for his accelerated progress — may have enabled him to drive a bigger car, but it is more important that he sends a bigger cheque home to his family in West Africa. They are with him constantly: a pendant on a thick chain bears the inscription, in florid calligraphy, ‘I love my mum and my wife”.

He remains as humble as the day he arrived from Abidjan, still politely shaking hands with everyone on a daily basis, still training with crazed enthusiasm, still listening to any words of wisdom that might make him a better player.

He has emerged as a strong contender for the PFA young player of the year award, which is one gong he does not have to contest with Henry. Along with Charlton’s Scott Parker, it is difficult to think of another whipper-snapper who has made such a positive impression this season. —