Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure wants to retire at the club despite contract expiring this summer

The Ivorian's future remains clouded in uncertainty as he enters the final months of his contract

Yaya Toure's display at Watford may prove to be his last Manchester City appearance (Getty)

Yaya Toure has claimed that he wants to retire at Manchester City, despite the uncertainty which continues to surround his long-term future at the club.

The Ivorian’s current contract at the Etihad expires this summer and unless an extension is agreed in the coming months, Toure could well have played his last game for City in Sunday’s emphatic 5-0 defeat of Watford.

When he does eventually depart, Toure is keen to say goodbye to supporters in the same manner as Pablo Zabaleta, who bid farewell to City following the club’s final home game of the season last Wednesday.

“Football is strange. I want to say a proper goodbye,” Toure said after the win at Vicarage Road, which confirmed City's place in the group stages of next season's Champions League.

“I want to be honest with the fans because those guys, for all the time I’ve been playing, those fans have been so special and the club has been good to me.”

Toure also hopes that, despite his contract situation, that day is a long time off and he harbours a desire to only bring his City career to an end once he is ready to retire from playing football.

“I want to go on until the end and the best way is going to be to stop playing football with City,” he said.

“That would be the best way for me. To be honest, to see me in another shirt would be quite difficult but we’ll see. We don’t know what’s going to happen in the future but we’ll see.

“I’m capable of playing more. I need to be honest, I’d love to play more but I just want that when I finish I can finish at City. That’s what I want but we will see.”