The City midfielder, who signed off with a 3-0 win against Stoke before joining the Ivory Coast squad ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations, has fond memories of the FA Cup and is hoping to help the Blues power to a second Wembley final appearance in three years.
“I’ll be keeping up with what is happening while I’m away and I’m hoping I can take part in the FA Cup on my return,” said Yaya, who could feature in the fifth round if City progress.
“It’s a very special competition for me because it’s where our journey as a team began,” he said.
“It’s where the trophies started and was our first achievement and it’s definitely a completion we would love to win again. I’ll never forget scoring the winning goals in the semi-final and final in 2011 so the FA Cup will always mean a great deal to me on a personal level.
“We are out of Europe now so it’s important we focus on the competitions we can still win – it’s vital we do this because we want to win more and more cups for our fans and I think they would really enjoy another trip to Wembley.”
With Yaya and Kolo Toure now out of action at club level for the next five weeks, Yaya believes his team-mates will continue their pursuit of Manchester United as well as powering forward in the FA Cup.
“We have to win something this season but nothing comes easily,” he said.
“We need to keep everyone fit and I hope it is like last year when we managed to avoid injuries to all our major players because it is a time of the campaign when you need your strongest team available.”
