Kolo Toure once took out Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Arsene Wenger in a single training session while on trial at Arsenal, a story that has resurfaced ahead of Sunday's Premier League meeting between Liverpool and Arsenal.
The former defender, who played for both clubs, is expected to follow the clash closely. Toure began his career in England with the Gunners, winning the league title in 2004, and later spent three years at Liverpool after arriving at Anfield in 2014.
Toure's Trial Day Disaster
As a 21-year-old trialist in 2002, Toure joined a training session alongside Henry and Bergkamp, but his eagerness to impress backfired. In John Cross's book about Wenger, Ray Parlour recounted how Toure ignored the unwritten rule of taking it easy in practice.
Parlour said: "I remember the ball was rolled into Thierry Henry and Kole Toure, from nowhere, smashed into him from behind. It was a terrible tackle, a red card in a normal game, and our best player was rolling around. Wenger was shouting: 'Kolo, what are you doing? Don’t tackle!' The next minute, the ball was into Dennis Bergkamp and Kolo did exactly the same... Anyway, Wenger said: 'No more tackling.'"
Toure's Own Account
Parlour added: "So next thing you know, Kolo Toure took him [Wenger] out with a two-footed tackle! All you could hear was Wenger screaming."
Toure confirmed the incident years later, telling Arsenal Player in 2017: "That definitely happened. It was a game and the manager was outside the game. He was not playing but he was passing the ball to the attacking players. The ball was going out and Mr Wenger went to get the ball. When he controlled the ball, instead of just stopping the game, I thought he was playing as well. I kept going and it was a big, big tackle."
He added: "After that, everyone was laughing and joking but I was in shock. I was like, 'Wow, maybe that will mean I will have to leave the club'. At the end of the day, I think the tackle made him want to keep me. Maybe he saw my desire as a defender from that."
