Roberto Mancini believes Serie A needs to attract more international stars to help restore its former glories - and the Inter Milan manager is still hopeful of starting the ball rolling by signing Manchester City's Yaya Toure in the summer. Mancini has targeted the giant midfielder, who was one of his key charges during his time in charge at City, as the player to spark Inter's revival next season following their recent struggles. Implying in a press conference on Saturday that Italy's top-flight, once the most star-studded in world football, was now a shadow of its 1980s and 90s heyday, Mancini said: 'Serie A needs great players, the ones that played in our league 15, 20 years ago.' Roberto Mancini is keen to sign Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure at the end of the season . The Inter Milan boss thinks Serie A needs to attract more top class players in order to restore its reputation . Toure captained the Ivory Coast to Africa Cup of Nations glory after The Elephants beat Ghana in the final . He continued, 'However, it has become very difficult to convince them to come to Italy as of late. I hope we will be able to do so with Yaya. 'Serie A needs players like Yaya so that it can go back to being one of the best leagues, if not the best, like it was 15, 20 years ago. 'I know it won't be easy to convince him. His signing would be important for us and for the entire league.' Toure was one of Mancini's key players when the Italian was in charge of Manchester City . Toure has scored 61 goals in 201 games in all competitions since joining City from Barcelona in 2010 .
Inter Milan boss Roberto Mancini hopes to sign Manchester City's Yaya Toure .
Mancini worked with Toure at City between 2010 and 2013 .
He says that Serie A needs to attract top players to restore its reputation .
Roberto Mancini believes Serie A needs to attract more international stars to help restore its former glories - and the Inter Milan manager is still hopeful of starting the ball rolling by signing Manchester City's Yaya Toure in the summer. Mancini has targeted the giant midfielder, who was one of his key charges during his time in charge at City, as the player to spark Inter's revival next season following their recent struggles. Implying in a press conference on Saturday that Italy's top-flight, once the most star-studded in world football, was now a shadow of its 1980s and 90s heyday, Mancini said: 'Serie A needs great players, the ones that played in our league 15, 20 years ago.' Roberto Mancini is keen to sign Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure at the end of the season . The Inter Milan boss thinks Serie A needs to attract more top class players in order to restore its reputation . Toure captained the Ivory Coast to Africa Cup of Nations glory after The Elephants beat Ghana in the final . He continued, 'However, it has become very difficult to convince them to come to Italy as of late. I hope we will be able to do so with Yaya. 'Serie A needs players like Yaya so that it can go back to being one of the best leagues, if not the best, like it was 15, 20 years ago. 'I know it won't be easy to convince him. His signing would be important for us and for the entire league.' Toure was one of Mancini's key players when the Italian was in charge of Manchester City . Toure has scored 61 goals in 201 games in all competitions since joining City from Barcelona in 2010 .
Roberto Mancini believes Serie A needs to attract midfielder Yaya Toure at the end of the season . The Inter Milan boss thinks Serie A needs to restore its reputation . Toure captained the 2010 .