Reports: City cut Toure´s pay

Manchester City have withheld substantial image rights payments from Kolo Toure after he failed a drug test, according to reports.

The Ivory Coast international has reportedly told friends he will consider leaving City in January if the club are successful, as reported by the English tabloid the Daily Mirror.

Reports also suggest City had initially tried to fine Toure around 500,000 pounds, but have now decided to focus on his image rights, which are worth 20-25 percent of his income.

The defender is believed to earn 120,000 pounds per week.

He will on Monday attend a disciplinary panel chaired by Manchester City football administrator Brian Marwood, accompanied by legal advisors.

He is expected to be represented by the Professional Footballers Association, according to the Sun, after the players’ union succeeded in halving the fine handed to Carlos Tevez for refusing to warm up as a substitute in a Champions League match against Bayern Munich.

Manager Roberto Mancini is staying out of the dispute, and has already insisted that there is no comparison with the Tevez saga to Toure’s predicament.

The defender failed a drug test in March this year after testing positive for a specified substance, which he maintained was a by-product of taking his wife’s slimming pills.

The club supported him in his hearings with the FA, and he received a six-month ban in May, from which he returned in September. He has played four games so far this season.