In 2012, it was revealed that former Manchester City starm Kolo Touré had been carrying on a secret affair with 22-year-old student Kessel Kasuisyo, all while pretending to be a Ghanaian car salesman named “Francois.”
The Arsenal legend kept his alleged double life hidden from everyone, including his wife, using disguises, private numbers, and lavish gifts to maintain the deception.
To Kessel, he wasn’t a Manchester City defender earning £90,000 a week. He wasn’t a married man. And he wasn’t even named Kolo. He introduced himself as “Francois,” a Ghanaian car salesman who had moved to Manchester as a student.
“I told him he looked familiar, but he just said maybe he looks like somebody. He said he sold cars in Africa and did some charity work,” Kessel later recalled.
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They met outside a nightclub in 2010. Days later, they were at a hotel, where he brought her lingerie, black heels, and gifts he claimed came from “successful car deals.”
According to reports, whenever he visited her council flat, he arrived in disguise, baseball cap pulled low, sunglasses on, like a man hiding from the world.
As the affair deepened, Touré even staged a mock proposal, kneeling with a diamond and ruby ring.
“He called me Princess and said he was really serious about me,” Kessel told the Sunday Mirror.
But while Kessel believed she was in a committed relationship, the truth was devastating. During one of his supposed business trips to Africa, Touré was actually in the Ivory Coast, marrying his real partner, Awo.
The lies finally crumbled when a friend recognised him and urged her to search his name online. What she found were his wedding photos, Touré in a white suit, crying.
“I am devastated. On some of the wedding pictures, he is crying, but a few weeks before, he was in my bed,” Kessel said.
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