Sunday 7 June 2009

Toure rejects first renewal offer

Asked about the renewal of the contract of Barcelona defensive midfielder and Ivorian international Yaya Touré (26) (read more here), the player's agent Dimitre Seluk has said in an interview with Catalan radio station RAC 1 that the first offer falls short:

"The offer they have made is not very good for us. I remind you that when Touré signed for Barça, he got the promise that he would get a pay rise after the first year, a promise that wasn't kept."

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that the offer is that far from what Touré's agent is asking that an exit could be possible (read more here), also because Barcelona has set a limit they don't want to pass.

When Seluk asked for a pay rise earlier this year baecause Touré is one of the least paid players of the squad, Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola met with Touré urging him to postpone this type of discussions until the end of the season but promising him at the same time a renewal in the summer. Barcelona has now made Touré a first offer but sources close to the negotiations said that the meeting between Seluk and Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain was rather negative.

The agent would have made clear that Touré, who has a contract until 2011 including a buyout clause of 90 million euro°, would have an attractive offer from Arsenal, while Liverpool and several English clubs have shown interest. The Catalan sports paper and Italian sports paper Il Corriere dello Sport claim that Inter Milan would want to include Touré in the transfer of Inter striker Ibrahimovic.

Read more:
Barcelona could consider to sell Toure
Manchester City prepares summer bid for Toure
Barcelona wants to renew the contract of Toure

29 comments:

NouBarca said...

If Arsenal can pay him, then we should bea able to pay him. And he deserves a lot of money, just like anybody else in the team.

barca4life said...

Thats what i was thinking nou, i arsenal can afford him, how much money is he asking for? Because as far as i know we pay more than arsenal

el fuego said...

if he want to go, than barca should let him go. we can get good money for toure. and we sill have sergi and keita.

barca4life said...

His contract is till 2011, but if we dont raise his pay, he could ask for a transfer. Rumour is a swap for mascherano with liverpool is an option.

barca4life said...

His contract is till 2011, but if we dont raise his pay, he could ask for a transfer. Rumour is a swap for mascherano with liverpool is an option.

Unknown said...

a buyout clause of 90 million euro?!?!?!?!?

FC BARCA said...

Barça should definitely try to keep Yaya, he's one of the best defensive midfielders in the world.

Ekar said...

yup
don't worry he's gonna renew....

barca4life said...

The biggest worry for me is that yaya provides us with height and size in the midfield. When we come up against a chelsea or an tough tackling team somebody like yaya provides us with an arial presence as well as a midfield "enforcer". I'm not sure if anybody else besides maybe essien in world football can replace the things he brings. Masherano may be a better DM but Yaya provides certain specific skills that are crucial to this barca team. Weather busquets can put on some size and take over from yaya is up for question but right now i feel we should renew him

Marc4barca said...

i agree with barc4life. only other person to trade for yaya is essien and he would ask for even more anyways, de rossi is a good dm but he is unlikely to leave roma. mascherano is just a dm, nothing else, yaya has the ability to go forward and a good shot from distance. if he should go we should at like how other clubs treat us and ask for a hefty sum of money 45 million euros if you want yaya.

their has to be a good reason why barca isn't offering more than he wants. could be that high. arsenal may have be able to pay cause they don't pay their other stars alot of money and an english club is still an english club no matter what and after 5 seasons without a trophy wenger could be feeling the heat from the board and supporters. the position he wants strengthening the most, he will go all out for it.

so my choice is sell for no less than 45 or renew.

CosmicKite said...

Top Class Defensive Midfielders are few and far between. If his demmands are not too outrageous then they should be met because there are few better than Toure. He would regret it for the rest of his life if he went to Arsenal.

Anonymous said...

He would look like a complete fool if he went to Arsenal. Everybody would laugh at him for making a move away from the greatest team in the universe to a junior team like Arsenal. Yaya is a smart player, so he knows that.

barcan said...

You know what........they can sell-change the whole team just leave alone xavi, iniesta and messi.

Visca el Barca!!!

hamad_ali said...

one of the biggest mistakes in history ( bigger than selling figo , comes 2nd after selling eto'o plus cash for any one on the face of the earth) .
yaya is not one of the best DMs in the game , he is the best , number one , the absolute best , please , he's a second coming of viera if not better .
he wins balls like mascherano but has better passing.
he has the physical presence like essien but has better airial threat .
he dominates midfields like canbiasso but has better shots .
he has great stamina like de rossi but has better skills .

now wich one of the above mentioned can dribble past three players and score a long range screamer in the final while playing out of position , NONE .
please renew him , why should yaya earn less than hleb or any of the above .
PS: renew eto'o too he deserves it .
as much as i like u tixiki but u sometimes make stupid mistakes by letting the contracts of key players run out so he can hold us for ransome later (valdes , eto'o , puyol , xavi ) .

jordy said...

yaya plays very well. I can't believe his demands are lower what mascherano earns.. yaya is stronger, rules the sky and can play football too. mascheran can only destruct the game

tero said...

Yaya is maybe one of our most important players.It would be very stupid to let him go because of a pay rise...it's funny that we are willing to pay huge salary to Ibra but not Toure,although Toure is so much more important to us...

umessi10 said...

Yaya is THE WALL of our midfield. Without him the mid field is incomplete and nobody can complete it better than Yaya himself.
I really hope they come to an agreement and Yaya stays with us.
Selling him would be the biggest mistake ever...

ZenI said...

Hey, like 9 of 10 people I speak to about Yaya says that would be the most stupid move ever. I mean, Pep and his assistants know more about football than all of us on this blog. But of course he has been brillinat if we react so strongly. It's not like many people praise Hleb in here is it?

Anonymous said...

hey guys calm down, yaya has still a contract till 2011 and they surely will agree with him on a pay raise!

barca4life said...

The problem is if we dont renew this year and he is unhappy at the end of this coming season he will have 1 year left on his contract and we will have to sell him for cheap or risk losing him for nothing. So if we cant renew soon we may be forced to sell to try to get a fair price that we can use to try to replace him.

Aussie Barca Fan said...

I think we should try our best to renew his contract. He should be between the 5th and 10th best earner in the squad as his performances have merited a good pay rise. If however his demands are outragous. He can't possibly expect to earn anything like Messi, Iniesta, Xavi then we should look to sell. One player is not bigger than a club. If he is solely motivated by money then he should be sold. He must not forgot that he was nothing before he came to Barca.

I just hope we are not seeing a Flamini case all over again.

Anonymous said...

Aussie: Yaya will be laughed at if he went to Arsenal. So he will not move from the best club to a team like Arsenal.

NouBarca said...

Every Footballer is motivated by money. Pay Messi half his current salary and watch him wear the white of Real Madrid. Get real. football is a career; a short one. Make the most of it. and you can always be in the driving seat if you are playing very well, which yaya can boast of

James said...

Uh relax. This is just the first step, you don't just offer the best deal the first time around. Barca wants to be fiscally responsible and maintain their wage structure. If you offer a deal greater than the player's worth then in 2 years when he has to renew again he will expect a even bigger raise.

Yaya will definitely get signed. If he is sold then it's because his demands are completely ridiculous (which I think is impossible, we're one of the best paying clubs in the world).

As far as Arsenal is concerned don't make me laugh. Adebayor was making 30,000 pounds per week before he signed a contract extension last year. After he scored 30 goals he wanted 120k but Arsenal offered 70k-80k pounds per week, and that made him one of the highest paid players on their team. However England also has 10% more tax than Spain so his wage after tax is something closer to ~65k euros per week.

To compare, Eto'o makes 150k euros per week after tax. Xavi & Iniesta made 100k per week after tax before Xavi signed a new contract that increased his wage to 150k per week. Even Hleb & Keita likely makes as much as Adebayor, and he's just another squad member. The point is Arsenal will not be able to make Yaya an 'attractive' offer, at least not financially.

Anonymous said...

This doesn't bode well for future negotiations.

Personally I believe that Yaya will go to Inter in a deal with Ibra.. sadly.

Iason said...

Yaya is easily the best DM in the world but he was not made for La Liga and you can tell that he has to restrain himself so much in Spain. In the first leg against Chelsea this year, we saw the real Toure. He went full out physical and completely bullied Ballack, Essien and Lampard out of the game. In England, he would play that well every week and I only want what's best for a players career. In La Liga, ever time he touches someone, it's a foul and he can't play his normal game. He doesn't play that much better than Busquets in La Liga because he was just not made for it. If the right offer comes in, more that 30 million, we should sell him because unfortunately, Spain is only holding Yaya back. I would only sell him for more than 30 million though.

James said...

We're only holding him back? From what? From being the anchor DM on the best team the world? He's already that.

Just because he could play more physical doesn't mean he needs to play that way to have success. That idea doesn't make any sense to me, where's the reasoning? Messi could score 50 goals in MLS, maybe he should go there. Or maybe Messi should go to EPL since it's too physical for him and therefore a 'tougher' league than La Liga, he should challenge himself right?

Iason said...

Thats 100% different. Toure would improve if he went to the premier league and Barca can use the money they get from the sell to get a DM more suited to La Liga or just use Busquets. Toure has to hold his hands up every time he challenges someone because he knows the player will just fall and earn a foul. In the Premier League, Toure can show his full potential. What can Messi do to improve at MLS? Don't compare MLS with the Premier League. And don't say La Liga is tougher than the Premier League because you would sound like an idiot if you do. I think La Liga is better than the Premier League and has a lot better players but Toure would fit into the British style so much better. In La Liga, L. Diarra plays better than Toure even though Toure is a million times better than him. It's just because he fits the stye better. In the Premier League, Toure can become a legend just by being an amazing player. In FC Barcelona, he can only be a legend by being in a successful team. He will be remember as a very decent player if he stays at Barca but he can go so much further in the Premier League

James said...

Dude you need to work on your reading comprehension. I didn't compare MLS to the EPL, I was being facetious. But I did however, tell you what Messi could improve at MLS, he could improve on his scoring! I said that already!

And again, I didn't say La Liga was tougher, so there's no need to call me an idiot. I said the EPL was perceived as tougher which is obviously what you think, since it's your whole premise for why Yaya is being held back not playing in the EPL. By that same token, if the EPL is better and tougher, then all the best players, Iniesta, Xavi, Messi should all move to the EPL or else they're being held back. If they've already conquered a softer, less physical league like La Liga then to become even bigger legends they need to prove they can overcome their physical stature to dominate a physical league with their skill. Isn't that right?

I don't know how much more you expect Yaya to show, when he's already considered one of the best DM's in the world. Plus it's a global game now, when you play at a top club in any of the big 3 leagues you always play in the Champion's League. You get plenty of exposure every single year, you also get to play against all the other leagues. The only reason why he's not a 'legend' yet is because he's playing on a team of superstars, hell even Xavi was overshadowed and unknown to the rest of the world until Euro 2008 and Iniesta was underrated until the Chelsea game. It has nothing to do with La Liga not being suited to his style. It has more to do with media exposure.

I can prove that your idea that Yaya can't play the way he wants to because La Liga players just fall down is wrong.

Example 1: Champion's League final, against EPL team Manchester United,
1st minute - Anderson hits a ball just past Yaya, runs into Yaya and falls down as Yaya is turning around to get the ball. That's the foul that led to the Ronaldo freekick that Valdes bobbled. Anderson was never going to reach that ball because Yaya had good positioning and was way too strong for him, so he just fell down instead. Yaya instantly rose his hands like you said, but that was against an EPL team.

Example 2 - Champion's League semifinals leg 2 against Chelsea

1st half - Malouda cuts inside on Alves from the left just inside the box, runs into Alves and falls down. That's one of the controversial plays that Chelsea wanted a penalty on. Malouda had no chance to get to the ball directly because Alves was inside of him, he had to either go around (which means he would lose out to Alves) or he could just run into him and fall down. Again, it was against an EPL team.

I don't know how many times I've seen Iniesta and Messi get shoved down off the ball in the box and not get a call in La Liga. In the Chelsea game Messi made the exact same play as Malouda in the first half and didn't get the call. It has nothing to do with the leagues, some referees call it looser, some referees call every foul.

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