[Official] Manchester City sign midfielder Yaya Toure
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Man City have £28M Toure bid accepted by Barcelona
Manchester City have agreed terms with Barcelona for midfielder Yaya Toure.
The Daily Mail says City have agreed a £28million deal to sign Barcelona’s Toure, making him the most expensive holding midfielder in English football history.
Toure will join his brother, Kolo, in Manchester when the pair return from World Cup duty with Ivory Coast.
Neither club have yet confirmed the agreement.
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It's a stupid deal not only because of the fee involve, but potentially, it could destabalise the team.
Already City has De Jong, Kompany and Barry doing the dirty work. Mancini went on to sign Vieira for god knows what reason, and now Yaya?
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if yaya worth 28m then barcelona need to pay 60m for fabregas. one of the barce ppl say fabregas only worth 29m. so now yaya worth 28m?? barcelona think too highly of their own players.
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Why Manchester City went gaga over Yaya Toure: Your guide to what they're getting for £28m
City slicker: Yaya Toure will join the Eastlands revolution after the World Cup
Manchester City have agreed a £28million deal to sign Barcelona’s Yaya Toure, making him the most expensive holding midfielder in English football history. Toure will join his brother, Kolo, in Manchester when the pair return from World Cup duty with Ivory Coast. Here, PETE JENSON explains why City are splashing out so much to sign him.
So why do Manchester City want such an expensive midfielder?
Well, he is the first-choice holding midfielder for the best footballing team on the planet. Or at least he was two seasons ago when Barcelona became the first team ever to win the treble in Spain. Last season he lost his place to Spain international Sergio Busquets.
City are actually spending £28m on someone’s ‘reserve’ holding midfielder?
The reserve thing shouldn’t worry City fans. Toure never deserved to lose his place. He was superb the year they won everything but at Barcelona whenever it is a close call between two players, and one happens to be Catalan, the other one always loses out. Busquets’ father, Carles, played in goal for Barcelona and would have shared a dressing room with current Barca coach Pep Guardiola. Now Busquets Jnr is the apple of Pep’s eye and Toure has suffered.
Has Toure only ever lost his place because of favouritism?
Well, mainly. Guardiola also thinks Toure is a little bit undisciplined. He does tend to go off on mazy little runs sometimes that in the coach’s eyes drag the team out of shape. Although one such run ended in a Ricky Villa-style wonder goal in January 2009 against Mallorca.
And will the fans miss him?
Most definitely. Fan polls are big in Spain and club presidents usually pay attention to them. All the votes regarding Toure have been 70 per cent in favour of him staying.
So why is no one listening this time?
If new president Sandro Rosell sells Toure to pay for the signing of Cesc Fabregas then nobody will complain.
OK, so Manchester City fans can look forward to seeing a pretty good holding midfielder who sometimes scores special goals, but £28m still seems like an awful lot of money. Does he do anything else?
Despite the sterling performances in midfield, Toure’s finest hour for Barcelona actually came in the Champions League final against Manchester United in 2009 when he was playing at centre half. He also played the league run-in and the Spanish cup final in defence and was outstanding in that final against Cristiano Ronaldo.
Job done: Yaya starred for Barcelona at centre-half in the Champions League final against Manchester United
Problem solved. Why didn’t he continue playing there, allowing Guardiola to bring in his golden boy Busquets?
Good question. One of the mysteries of last season was why, having played so well in that position against such tough opposition and in the biggest domestic game in world football, Toure never played there again. Barcelona love nothing more than a central defender who is comfortable on the ball. Maybe it comes back to Guardiola believing that Toure just lacks discipline, but that was certainly not the case in the Champions League final against Ronaldo.
But there could be two Toures in the centre of Manchester City’s defence next season?
Not necessarily. When he was presented at Barcelona his wife insisted the name on his shirt be Yaya and not Toure. But yes, he could play at the back for City alongside his brother, no question about it.
Brotherly love: Kolo (right) is already at City and will no doubt be talking up the club to his brother on international duty
And will he be a good boy for City off the pitch as well as on it?
He is a model professional but ‘beware the agent’. Barcelona hate players with, shall we say, talkative representatives. Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s agent has done his player no favours recently by saying that ‘Guardiola should be put in a mental institution for not picking him’ and Toure’s man, Dimitri Seluk, was talking up a new contract one year into the player’s original deal and then started saying he would be leaving because he wasn’t happy about not being picked. But apart from the lively agent, he is a class act who has had a rough deal at the Nou Camp.
Just one more question — didn’t Arsene Wenger once reject him because he was too slow?
Wenger did give him a trial in 2003 in a friendly against Barnet. But afterwards he was more interested in signing a certain AS Cannes left back, Gael Clichy, who also played in that game. It didn’t do Toure’s cause much good that he played up front and missed a sitter. As for his pace, he is not the quickest but it is not a real problem. Guardiola once described him as a ‘diesel player’ — in other words, fine once he gets warmed up and also very powerful.
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this guy dont worth so much lar...my godness.
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Lolx
i think Barcelona is interested for the 28M instead of the player
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For most clubs, $28m would mean a lot... But to City, even players worth $50 to $60 million is a normal fee... Perhaps those on $100m they might feel a pinch. So what is $28m for a player Chelsea, Arsenal, United all wanted...
They are not just paying a sum of money, they are also making a statement that they can beat any of the top clubs to a player... and that is very important...
Reserve one spot from the top 4 for them next season... Cos I am sure they will get in there this time around...
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barry join arsenal la.
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i've always said Mancini is not a smart manager, he won titles at Inter only when other clubs are in crisis !
looks like Man City will fire Mancini next season.........LOL
all the money in the world but yet didn't think of hiring someone with brains !
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Manchester City sign midfielder Yaya Toure
Toure lost his place to Sergio Busquets for much of last seasonManchester City have signed midfielder Yaya Toure from Barcelona on a five-year deal for an undisclosed fee.
The 27-year-old, who played for Ivory Coast at this summer's World Cup, was told he was surplus to requirements at the Catalan club last week.
"This is another fantastic signing for Manchester City," manager Roberto Mancini told the club's website.
Toure's arrival follows deals for Spain midfielder David Silva and Germany defender Jerome Boateng.
Toure, who will enjoy a three-week break before joining his new team-mates for pre-season training, is thought to have cost City in the region of £28m, taking the club's summer outlay to about £60m - still some way short of last season's £120m spending spree.
The younger brother of City captain Kolo, Yaya Toure complained in December of a lack of playing time at La Liga champions Barcelona, telling BBC Sport he was keen to play in "100% of games."
However, Mancini backed Toure to help City build on last season's fifth-place finish in the Premier League.
"Everyone knows Yaya is a player that we have admired for a long time," added Mancini.
"We would like to welcome him to Manchester City. He has played at the top level with Barcelona and I am sure his experience and ability will be very important for us."
Toure played every minute of Ivory Coast's World Cup campaign and scored in the 3-0 victory against North Korea, but was unable to prevent them from exiting at the group stages - albeit from a group that also contained Brazil and Portugal.
And that disappointment came on the back of a frustrating season at Barcelona, where he lost his place as the team's holding midfielder to Sergio Busquets and played the full 90 minutes only nine times in the 38-game league season.
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The way City are going, they more or less guaranteed top 4 next season, maybe even champions...
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Yaya Toure
David Silva
Jerome Boateng
These 3 has taken City's spending this summer to more than £60million.
Lazio defender Aleksandar Kolarov is set to follow Toure, Boateng and Silva to City in a £15m move.
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They seriously playing FM! I wonder why some of these players moved to Man City without thinking if they be playing first team football.
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Originally posted by zocoss:
Yaya Toure
David Silva
Jerome Boateng
These 3 has taken City's spending this summer to more than £60million.
Lazio defender Aleksandar Kolarov is set to follow Toure, Boateng and Silva to City in a £15m move.
let mi see
Vieria may sitting full time on the bench -
Originally posted by zocoss:
The way City are going, they more or less guaranteed top 4 next season, maybe even champions...
I dooubt so.
More signings will jam the dressing room.
This is their squad as of now:
Goalkeepers
- David Gonzales (COL)
- Shay Given (IRL)
- Joe Hart (ENG)
- Gunnar Nielsen (FAR)
Defenders
- Dedryck Boyata (BEL)
- Greg Cunningham (IRE)
- Javan Vidal (ENG)
- Joleon Lescott (ENG)
- Wayne Bridge (ENG)
- Javier Garrido (ESP)
- Shaleum Logan (ENG)
- Nedum Onuoha (ENG)
- Micah Richards (ENG)
- Kolo Toure (CIV)
- Pablo Zabaleta (ARG)
Midfielders
- Abdisalam Ibrahim (NOR)
- Adam Johnson (ENG)
- Gareth Barry (ENG)
- Patrick Vieira (FRA)
- Nigel de Jong (NED)
- Kelvin Etuhu (NGR)
- Stephen Ireland (IRL)
- Michael Johnson (ENG)
- Vincent Kompany (BEL)
- Vladimir Weiss (SVK)
- Shaun Wright-Phillips (ENG)
Strikers
- Emmanuel Adebayor (TGO)
- Craig Bellamy (WAL)
- Valeri Bojinov (BUL)
- Felipe Caicedo (ECU)
- Jô (BRA)
- Alex Tchuimeni-Nimely (ENG)
- Robinho (BRA)
- Roque Santa Cruz (PRY)
- Carlos Tevez (ARG)
And with New Addition of Boateng, Silva and Yaya, I wonder how will the rest of the squad react. Lesser Play time?
Mancini needs to sort out his squad quickly, there're too many players vying for the same position. I'm not sure how Tevez, Bellamy, Santa Cruz, Adebayor fit the system. Not to mention the returns from loan of Robinho, Jo, Bojinov and Caicedo.
Barry, Vieira, De Jong, Kompany and now Yaya all fighting for the defensive midfielder role. And Ethuhu is returning from his loan spell, also another defensive midfielder. Who is there to provide the spark in midfield? Adam Johnson? SWP? Weiss? Ireland? Michael Johnson? SWP is too inconsistent. Weiss was sent out of loan and not given a chance. Ireland was not favoured by Mancini after Hughes' sacking. Micheal Johnson wasn't even in Mancini's selection radar! Adam Johnson is probably the best bet but he is not in the starting lineup due to the fact that there're too many strikers to accomodate upfront!
I think Mancini should concentrate on defence and trim the squad. Richards looks more and more like an idiot with brute strength who cant defend. Zabaleta is not a good defender. Lescott is an expensive flop. And the mistake was to let Dunne leave. Boateng might be able to provide some cover but i believe Mancini should really go for Kolarov to challenge Bridge for a place at Left Back.
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how come Pablo Zabaleta didnt play for argentina? not good enuff?
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Originally posted by Rooney9:
how come Pablo Zabaleta didnt play for argentina? not good enuff?
Not good enough i guess.
Or just Maradona's crazy team selection. He actually preferred Jonas Gutierrez who is a winger to play at right back role!
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Why so many defensive midfielders at City?!?!