"When you look at Arsenal you see all the great players have left and are now in the past," Toure was quoted as saying in British media on Sunday.
"Players like (Thierry) Henry, (Patrick) Vieira and (Ray) Parlour that brought success to Arsenal and I believed it was right at this stage of my career to also move on."
This is not an Arsenal problem. It has its roots in the way the game is economically structured. Man Utd formalized an under 26 year cap on players that is by and large adopted from Arsenal's policy of canny and lucrative player sales. Toure's sale netted the Gunners £15million. So far Wenger has managed to raise about £50 million enough to get a couple of quality players.
More punditry from Toure:
"The best teams are at the top only because they have the best players and to get those players you have to spend a lot of money."
Real and City have not yet impressed in their preseason and they are a long ways of from winning a title.
Or maybe Toure was just reacting to a cozy clique being broken up.
Some good points made by Toure there. I think Arsenal have been suffering from a lack of funds due to the costs of the new stadium aswell. This preseason has exposed that even more. It's going to be an interesting season ahead and i can't wait to see how it all plays out.