British tabloid The People claims that Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger wants to make a move for Barcelona defensive midfielder and Ivorian international Yaya Touré (24). The French manager thinks that Touré is the player who could finally succeed Patrick Vieira on the Arsenal midfield.
Wenger hopes that the appointment of Josep Guardiola as new Barcelona manager could open the door for the younger brother of Arsenal central defender Kolo Touré. Arsenal would therefore be preparing a 12,5 million euro° bid for the player.
In 2002, when playing for the Belgian club Beveren, Touré had a trial with Arsenal but Wenger decided back then not to offer the Ivorian midfielder a deal.
pep's opinion:
that fee of course is ridiculous, double that and we could be almost there. don't want the player to leave at all, but like i suggested yesterday he might not be the kind of player guardiola is looking for to fill in that position. to me, that position is one of the main question marks in the guardiola scheme: will the 'pivote' return or not?
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° 12,5 million euro =
20 million us dollar
10 million british pound
Well it will be tough to hold onto Yaya if he is bound and determined about playing alongside his brother at the Emirates. Much like Eto'o's situation there's no way I would let him go unless you are assured to have someone in place to fill his shoes. I have continualy stated that I would love to see "us" getting Essien but he is pretty much the same kind of player as Yaya (albeit more skilled). So if Guardiola doesn't like Yaya's "style" I doubt he'd be interested in Essien. That leaves Mascherano as the next best alternative and I think he more realisticaly fits the profile of what Guardiola might be looking for. It is highly unlikely though that Benitez will allow Mascherano to leave Anfield. The only way I could see it happening is if Barca offered Rafa a striking option upfront to pair with Torres. Of course the first name that immediately comes to mind is Eto'o. But that would be a VERY steep price to pay and it would in essence be filling one hole but creating another up front. Offering Henry instead could work (and perhaps it may give him the opportunity to ressurect his career.)But that tandem probably wouldn't work either because Henry's used to playing as the "lone" option up front. In the end maybe it might be best for Barca to hold onto Yaya for now, unless Arsenal or another team comes calling with a ridiculous offer that is too good to pass up.
I forgot to mention that I wouldn't be opposed to a Yaya for Bacary Sagna swap. I love Sagna's versatility in that you could deploy him to the center back or left back positions even though he predominantly plays the right back option at Arsenal. And moreover if we did get Sagna that would remove the need to go out and spend millions on Alves.
I want to keep Yaya, but also add Miguel Veloso to the troop. He would make a nice substitute, while he also can play full back or left back.
I couldn't agree with you more! I think Veloso would be the "ideal" type of player Guardiola would be after. Veloso would provide Guardiola with the flexibility to deploy him as either a centre back for marking or further up as a "defensive minded" central midfielder which Barca could use especially if Guardiola is not satisfied with Yaya in that role.
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