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Kolo Toure makes former Liverpool team-mate his first signing at Wigan

There has been a Liverpool reunion of sorts at Wigan, with Kolo Toure making a player he briefly called a team-mate his first signing as manager.

Toure is now over a month into his first managerial role, but it has been a rough start for the 41-year-old, who is winless in six games so far.

After two draws and four defeats across the Championship and the FA Cup, the former Celtic and Leicester assistant has set his sights on reinforcements in January.

The first of those arrived on Monday night, with Steven Caulker joining Wigan on a short-term deal until the end of the season.

It marks the 14th club of his senior career, which has taken in spells in England, Scotland and more recently Turkey, with six loans including a memorable stint at Liverpool.

Toure and Caulker were, for a short period, team-mates in Jurgen Klopp‘s squad, with the younger centre-back spending the second half of 2015/16 at Anfield.

They only spent 13 minutes on the pitch together, but relationships will have been built off the pitch during Caulker’s time on Merseyside.

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Friday, February 26, 2016: Liverpool's Jon Flanagan, Adam Lallana and Steven Caulker during a training session at Melwood Training Ground ahead of the Football League Cup Final against Manchester City. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)

“After making the decision to come back from Turkey a couple of weeks ago, the gaffer reached out to me,” the 31-year-old explained in his interview with Latics TV.

“He is an ex-teammate of mine from many years ago, and he spoke about the opportunity and the project he’s got going here.

“He spoke about the challenge that we face, and he wanted me to be a part of it. For me, he’s a great guy and one of the best guys I’ve met in football.

“The manager played a key part in myself coming here.

“I’m an experienced player and I’ve had 14, 15 seasons under my belt, and for me, the most important thing is mutual respect with the manager.

“Kolo has shown that, and I want to repay that faith by performing on the pitch.”