Tottenham are expected to appoint Premier League icons Yaya Toure and Jermain Defoe as academy coaches in the coming days.
Toure, 39, is one of the greatest midfielders of his generation. The former Ivory Coast international, who won the Champions League at Barcelona, inspired Manchester City to three Premier League titles, three League Cups and the FA Cup during his time in England.
Defoe, also 39, is a Tottenham icon after scoring 243 goals for the club across two spells. The former England international won 57 caps for his country and represented the likes of Portsmouth, West Ham Bournemouth, Sunderland and Rangers during his club career.
As reported by the Evening Standard, Toure has been given a full-time position at Spurs after joining the London club on a part-time basis in December. Defoe will take up his first full-time coaching job in Tottenham's academy next month.
Toure has been a coach since his playing career came to an end in 2019. Since then, he's been the assistant manager at Ukrainian outfit Olimpik Donetsk and Russian club Akhmat Grozny. He left the latter position in December, shortly before joining Tottenham.
"It’s important I go through the [coaching] steps," Toure told The Times in March. "I'm working with the academy now, it’s a nice step to learn. The U18s' passion is incredible and they are so smart and so clever. You can set up tactics and one of them will ask a question you have not thought about."
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Mikel Arteta has offered his support to Toure. "He has my number because we’ve spent some years together at City," said the Arsenal manager earlier this year. "He is a player I appreciate a lot so he can call me and ask me the question."
Defoe's coaching journey started in June 2021 when he was made a player-coach at Rangers. He became their joint-caretaker boss following Steven Gerrard's exit five months later before joining Sunderland as a player in January. He hung up his boots in March.
"I am really looking forward to it," Defoe told Rangers' website when his coaching career started. "It is something we spoke about over the summer, myself, the manager, the staff... and when the opportunity came to me, it was an easy decision."
Defoe added: "I have started my badges which I will hopefully finish soon, and getting this experience learning from the manager... and all of the staff involved, and dipping in and out of sessions hopefully - probably more on the finishing side of it I would imagine.
"But dipping in and out of sessions, and I would love the opportunity to go over to the other side and do a bit with the younger lads as well - that next generation which would be good and give me a good feeling, so I am looking forward to that as well."
Tottenham have given opportunities to several ex-players in recent years. Simon Davies is their academy's head of methodology, while Scott Parker started his coaching career at Spurs. Both Ledley King and Ryan Mason have coached the first team.
