The Ivorian included two Red Devils players in his top-five buys of the transfer window, along with James Rodriguez, Alvaro Negredo and Mario Balotelli

Manchester City star Yaya Toure admits that rivals Manchester United pulled off two of the transfer window’s best signings by landing Angel Di Maria and Radamel Falcao.

The Argentine star arrived at Old Trafford from Real Madrid in a £59.7 million (€76m) move this summer, while the Colombia striker has arrived on loan from Monaco in a deal that is set to become permanent.

Ahead of this weekend’s Manchester derby, Toure concedes Louis van Gaal’s side have made impressive additions that rank on a par with Real Madrid’s deal to buy James Rodriguez from Monaco for €80m.

When asked who his best five transfers of the summer were, he said: “I think definitely Di Maria, and also James Rodriguez was a fantastic one.

“Man United also made the move for Falcao and he is a great striker, unbelievable.”

Toure wrapped up his top five picks by praising his former team-mate Alvaro Negredo and tipping under-fire Mario Balotelli to have an impressive stint at Liverpool.

He continued: “One of my team-mates Alvaro Negredo went to Valencia. He has had injuries but was brilliant for us over the last year and I think he will make a great move.

“We are all sad and disappointed to see him go because he was one of the top strikers in the last year. He had a couple of events and needed to go back to his country but we are going to miss him a lot.

“The fifth one would be one of my great friends Mario Balotelli. He is like my brother.

“I hope he is going to do well with Liverpool because he has been involved with a few problems in the past and I think this year he is becoming more mature and can control all of that.”

Touré was speaking to Nissan, the official automotive sponsor of the UEFA Champions League, as part of his role as the car manufacturer’s global ambassador.