Yaya Toure insists he never considered leaving Manchester City last season.

After being frozen out by Pep Guardiola following comments by his agent Dimitri Seluk, Toure worked his way back into the fi rst team and signed a 12-month extension in June.

The midfielder, 34, said: “ I'm not thinking about what happened before. I'm just happy to play.

“In the last three or four years I have always dealt with the doubts about my future.

“People have been close to writing me off but I was not close to leaving. I was delighted to stay for one more year.

“We all have to do our jobs through the ups and downs.

"It's more about the team reacting well, being more positive and more clinical. I've proved that I want to win. In the last two years we've not been able to win too many trophies and it's been quite difficult.

“So this year we have to do something because most of the teams in the Premier League have a lot of money and are strong.

“They can buy big players. We've seen this with United, so it's going to be very tough.

“Of course, I'm looking forward to the season. I don't know what is going to happen but we have to show better quality."