Diet pill sparks Toure troubles

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has confirmed Manchester City vice-captain Kolo Toure failed a drug test after taking his wife’s diet pill.

Toure had been in contact with his former boss at the Emirates, and the French manager confirmed that Toure’s positive test – which may severely damage the Ivorian’s career – was not an intentional cheating method.

“He wants to control his weight a little bit because that’s where he has some problems and he took the product of his wife,” Wenger said.

“It is a complete surprise because I had Kolo here for years. (Toure is) very honest living, clean life, always at home – a family man. I do not suspect him at all to have taken drugs to enhance his performances.”

“He was not cautious enough. I do not think there was a desire there to do something wrong and then hide it.”

Toure was indefinitely suspended by City for taking the ‘specified substance’, a term which is classified by the World Anti-Doping Agency as one ‘more susceptible to a credible, non-doping explanation’.

The 29-year-old is facing a lengthy ban from the game, however Hamilton midfielder Simon Mensing was suspended for one month from the Scottish Premier League for failing a drug test, after testing positive to the stimulant methylhexaneamine – a fact that may help Toure’s cause in salvaging his career.