Manchester City legend Yaya Toure is set to continue his illustrious career with a move to China.

Toure, 36, has been training with Qingdao Huanghai and is now close to agreeing a deal with the second-tier side.

Three-time Premier League champion Toure has been without a club since leaving Olympiacos in December, terminating his contract by mutual consent after a disappointing brief return to his former club.

Yaya Toure is set to continue his career with a move to Chinese side Qingdao Huanghai

Toure denied suggestions last month that he had subsequently retired as he is hungry to keep playing and insisted he still has ‘a few more years’ left.

A spell in the Far East represents a chance for the Ivorian midfielder to recapture his form of just a couple of seasons ago when he was a regular in the City side.

Toure has also been the subject of interest from the Middle East but moving to China will allow him to resume playing straight away with the League One season underway and running until November.

Toure, who also counts Monaco and Barcelona as his former clubs, spent eight years at City, winning seven major trophies, before leaving when his contract expired last summer.

Toure left City a year ago and spent half a season in Greece with Olympiacos

His prospective move to China comes two years after he scoffed at the idea of leaving European football.

'Me? No. I'm still looking young, right? I want to play in Europe, especially in England. I want to continue doing that for a few years yet. I always say that if I went to China I would end up feeling angry there,' he told The Telegraph.

'Do you play football because you love football or do you play because you want to make money? Me, I just want to play football because I enjoy it. I love playing. I enjoy helping my team-mates, I enjoy playing against the big players and teams.

'I want to carry on in that way. Some people have the mentality that they want to do that [go to China] – to try something different. But for me, my feeling is that I want to play more football.'