Why electric Toure can be a game-changer for Newcastle

Amid a summer of upheaval at Newcastle United, the signing of Bazoumana Toure from Hoffenheim stands out. Adam Bate speaks to the man who brought the winger to Europe to find out why this is a player who could have a big impact on the Premier League...

Football Features Writer @ghostgoal

Monday 17 August 2026 10:22, UK

Image:Bazoumana Toure can be a game-changer for Newcastle United with his pace

Amid the doom and gloom at Newcastle United as familiar faces depart and the future looks uncertain, do not sleep on the signing of Bazoumana Toure. The Ivorian winger has the potential to be one of the most exciting Premier League arrivals this summer.

There were limited opportunities to show that at the World Cup. Toure started only one game. He was introduced in the 89th minute in Cote d'Ivoire's knockout defeat to Norway only after Erling Haaland had scored what turned out to be the winning goal.

But Newcastle acted on the evidence of his first full season with Hoffenheim, a wildly impressive campaign in which the club only missed out on Champions League qualification on the final day. The electrifying Toure was a standout performer in Germany.

Image:Bazoumana Toure's heat map and chances created for Hoffenheim

Always an outlet on the left, he made more sprints than any other Bundesliga player last season, ranking among the top 10 fastest players in the competition. Toure was able to spring counter-attacks and get Hoffenheim up the pitch - a key part of their success.

He is tricky to stop. Werder Bremen's Yukinari Sugawara tried it by raking his studs down Toure's calf five minutes into the game on the penultimate weekend of the season. He was sent off and Toure went on to curl an effort high into the net to score the winner.

There were five goals in total in the Bundesliga last season, a modest run given his ability. Newcastle will expect more. But it is his creativity that makes him an attractive option. Toure's dribbling is his strength and there was end product with nine assists too.

His right foot has improved. There were goals with it against St.Pauli and Stuttgart, as well as a clever nutmegged pass to Fisnik Asllani for the equaliser on the opening weekend against Bayer Leverkusen. There are those who will tell you it was not always in the repertoire.

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Indeed, Middlesbrough boss Kim Hellberg messaged him in April of last year to ask what was going on when he set up a goal with his right foot against Mainz. The pair had been together at Hammarby in Sweden, the club that offered Toure his opportunity in Europe.

While the use of his weaker foot might have shocked Hellberg, he has describe himself as "not the least bit surprised" by the player's success in Germany. Toure "put himself in the spotlight" in Sweden, noted Hoffenheim's sporting director Andreas Schicker.

It was Schicker's counterpart at Hammarby, Mikael Hjelmberg, who brought Toure to Europe. Speaking to Hjelmberg, he remains a little bit enamoured with the player he identified on a visit to Abidjan in Cote d'Ivoire. Toure was only a boy then. But a special talent.

"I saw him the first time when he was 15 years old in Abidjan and I fell in love with him there and then," Hjelmberg tells Sky Sports. What was it that stood out immediately? "It was his speed and running capacity in combination with his technical skills," he says.

Image:Bazoumana Toure made more sprints than any other player in the Bundesliga last season

Hjelmberg knew where to look for talent through his own experience and because Toure was at one of the country's best academies. "I have travelled around Africa scouting players for 15 years and ASEC Mimosas has always been great at developing players."

Bringing Toure to Sweden just made sense. "Hammarby have a great history with African players. We take care of them in a great way and always put the person before the player," he explains. "And Kim as a coach had a great impact on Bazou's development."

Image:Bazoumana Toure's shot map for Hoffenheim in the 2025/26 Bundesliga season

So swift was Toure's own impact upon his arrival in 2024 that it soon became clear that he would not be around for long. He made his debut in April and earned his first start in May. The first goal came later that month, then a key performance in the very next game.

"When he scored against Djurgarden in a big derby game, the celebration after with our supporters was a great moment," he recalls Hjelmberg. "When he started playing regularly after the summer we all realised that this was going to be a great success."

That first season in Sweden turned out to be his only one. It ended in November and he was a Hoffenheim player by the following February. "When the bigger clubs started to call after the season ended I knew that we would break the Swedish transfer record."

His stay in Germany has not lasted much longer. Another step on the journey awaits Toure. Hjelmberg is confident that he can handle it because of his character. "He is an amazing guy. He is always smiling, always positive and an extremely likeable person."

And, on the pitch, maybe he is just what Newcastle have been missing. Some of the fun seemed to go from their game last season. Look at their dribbling numbers and they were lower than in any of the previous six seasons, a steady but slightly worrying dip.

Toure can change that for starters. He is not close to being the complete player yet, as one might expect given that he was only starting out on this European adventure two years ago. But he has the capacity to thrill, to get the St James' Park crowd on their feet.

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Matthias Jaissle, the new Newcastle coach, is a former Hoffenheim man himself. He built his reputation within the Red Bull school and can be expected to embrace the high-octane football that will bring the best out in a player from whom there is much more to come.

"He definitely has things to improve." But then, that is what they thought about his right foot. With Toure, there is more to come. "With a good environment around him he will be perfectly fine," adds Hjelmberg. "I am sure Bazou and Newcastle will be a great match."

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