Yaya Touré wants to make Manchester City history – and then go back to Barcelona

Manchester City midfielder Yaya Touré says writing a new chapter in the club's history is why he joined them from Barcelona – but admitted he would like a return to the Nou Camp one day.

The 28-year-old, who shocked Barcelona supporters two years ago when he moved to England, said: "This is why I came to a club like City without such a big history – I wanted to make some history for myself.

"When you are at the biggest club in the world and you go to a club where there is not such a big history, the key is the desire to change that. Now the club has the money to buy almost any player. It's incredible how we have come from nothing and in two or three years reached a fantastic level.

"We are very close now but we have to maintain the hunger until the end. I want to give everything to give some happiness back to the supporters. The win [at Newcastle] at the weekend was decisive, but not completely decisive. We were up against a very difficult side and knowing that [Manchester] United were not going to stop winning their games."

But when asked by Catalan radio station RAC1 if once he had made history with City he felt like returning, he said: "You could say that Barcelona has been the most important club for me. A few years back I always said I would like to finish my career there but things worked out differently and I had to leave. If one day I had to go back to Barcelona then it would be phenomenal."

Touré told the programme Tu Diras that he followed Barcelona's matches from Manchester. "I even have the transmission in Catalan and if I have a game at the same time as them then I will call the friends that I have there to see how things have gone," he said.

He also said he was hoping to find time in the coming weeks to visit his friend and former Barcelona team-mate Eric Abidal, who is currently recovering from a liver transplant.

Meanwhile the Barça defender Carles Puyol believes it will be "impossible" for him to recover from a knee operation in time to play for the holders Spain at Euro 2012 next month. "It's going to be very tough, but I have to wait and see how the operation goes," he said yesterday. "But I think it's impossible because when you come out of an operation there is a recovery period and I believe that those who are in better shape should go."