Toure banned for six months

Toure will be back in action for Manchester City in early September [GALLO/GETTY]

Ivorian international and Manchester City defender Kolo Toure has received a six month ban for testing positive for a banned substance earlier this season.

Toure received the backdated ban on Thursday following his positive test in March.

The ban has been backdated to March 2, meaning Toure will be available to play for the English Premier League club in September.

Diet pill

“This has been a difficult period for me,” Toure told City’s website.

“I am sad to have missed the team’s triumph of securing Champions League football and also the FA Cup victory at Wembley.

“But I am relieved I will be able to return to football in September and thank the FA’s commission for their understanding about my case in coming to their decision.”

The English FA’s commission found there was no intent “to enhance sporting performance or to mask the use of a performance enhancing substance.

“He was at fault in the limited and perfunctory efforts he made in relation to the water tablets; the checks he made in relation to those tablets were inadequate and fell some way below what it would be reasonable to expect of a professional footballer in these circumstances,” said commission head Christopher Quinlan.

Toure’s punishment means he can to return to action in the first week of September and is likely to miss only a handful of matches in the new season which kicks off in mid-August.

Toure, whose brother Yaya scored the only goal in City’s FA Cup final win over Stoke City at Wembley earlier this month, will be target-tested for a two-year period, the FA said.