Hot and Kold

Kolo Toure's secret double life

We don’t normally email all our subscribers on a Sunday, but we’re treating you to this mental story about Man City star Kolo Toure’s secret double life.

It’s from Old Gold, our Sunday email spilling wild tales from the past.

Old Gold is usually exclusive to Upshot Gold members - and we’re currently offering a massive 40% discount on Upshot Gold membership. You can upgrade using the button below.

And now, on to Kolo romantic university adventure…

Welcome back to Old Gold, our Sunday email spilling forgotten tales from the past.

This week we’ve been knocking on the doors of the grotty student bedsits of Fallowfield, on the trail of a Man City star and his secret double life.

It’s Kolo Toure’s romantic university adventure…

FOOTBALL

💗 You’re hot and you’re Kol-d

Besides dolphins and disgraced BBC presenters, there are few species with a more relentless appetite for shagging than Premier League footballers. Just ask Kolo Toure…

Back in 2010, the man now best known for having his name sung at the darts, began an affair with 22-year-old student Kessel Kasuisyo. And the Man City defender went to extreme lengths to keep it secret.

Like all great student romances, Kolo’s fling began in the 2am drizzle outside a Manchester nightclub. After deploying his famous Ivorian charm, Kolo exchanged numbers with Kessel, and arranged to meet her at a hotel the next day.

“I told him he looked familiar” Kessel later recalled, “but he just said maybe he looks like somebody. He said he sold cars in Africa and did some charity work.”

In a bid to keep his identity a secret, Kolo cooked up an elaborate alter ego: he was a successful Ghanaian car salesman named Francois, who’d moved to Manchester as a student.

Not a football fan, Kessel had no clue who he really was.

Over two years, Kolo lived the double life of a twisted Batman, sneaking round to the student’s council flat disguised with a baseball cap and a pair of Top Gun aviators.

He bought her “sexy white lingerie”, and called from private numbers so she “didn’t waste her money calling.”

The act didn’t stop there. In an Oscar-worthy performance, Toure got down on one knee with a diamond ring, professing his love. And when he disappeared for a few months, he had an explanation for that too.

Kolo claimed he was back in Ghana flogging second hand Range Rovers, but the reality was sliiightly different: he was in the Ivory Coast… marrying his actual wife.

So how was Kolo’s exhausting charade eventually rumbled?

The City defender always insisted his student lover didn’t take any photos of him, but one day, she sneakily grabbed one while he was in the shower.

She showed the picture to a friend, who instantly recognised the footballing megastar and urged her to google “Kolo Toure”.

After discovering photos of her beau lifting the Premier League trophy, as well as snaps from his recent wedding, the game was up.

Farewell Francois, Ghana’s most celebrated car salesman…

That’s it for today.

Don’t forget we’ll send you a wild story like this every Sunday when you take advantage of our 40% off discount on Upshot Gold.

An Upshot Gold subscription gets you:

  • Three editions of The Upshot per week, including our juiciest stories.

  • A classic anecdote from sport's biggest characters every Sunday.

  • Access to the Gold Shotters lounge, a private chatroom where we share the rumours we can't publish.

If you enjoyed this story you’ll love these:

Reply

or to participate.