Toure on the brink of £14 million City move

Toure is on the brink of a move

It’s all about Kolo Toure today as the internet world goes mental over his supposed move to Manchester City.

Reliable source Soccernet has stated that Arsenal and Manchester City have agreed a fee of  £14 million for Toure, while The Guardian has taken it a step further by indicating that the Ivorian has left Arsenal’s Austrian training camp to complete a medical with City. Even Arsene Wenger has got in on the act, stating yesterday that “we will see what will happen in the next 24 hours”.

Regardless of what stage the negotiations are I think it’s now inevitable that Toure will leave Arsenal. The money on the table is too good for the club to refuse and with Toure going from third or fourth-choice at Arsenal to a starter at City he can hardly be blamed for making the move.

As a player who has served the club gallantly for nine years it would be wrong to look down on Toure’s decision to move to City. Unlike Emmanuel Adebayor’s situation this is far less about money and more about Toure getting game time before his career winds down. Toure has been the model professional in his time at Arsenal and I think he’ll get the blessing of each and every Arsenal supporter for the move, not that he needs it.

With Toure going it certainly does change the complexion of our defensive structure. Since the transfer window opened we’ve seen Thomas Vermaelen come in and Philippe Senderos return from his loan spell at AC Milan, but I’m not sure we necessarily need another central defender. A lot of it comes down to what Wenger thinks of the current defensive players that are available and the indications thus far are that Johan Djourou is ready to be relied upon far more, while Senderos – who looked certain to be leaving – may yet have a big part to play next season.

Anyway, I’ll talk more about the implications of Toure’s exit once the move is confirmed. In the meantime, talk amongst yourselves and enjoy your day. I’ll be back on later when/if the move goes through.

Have your say on Toure’s move to Manchester City by leaving a comment.

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Comments

  1. I wish King Kolo the best of luck, he’s a top bloke so i dont have any hatred towards him for leaving.

    But he must be replaced, Sendy maybe leaving and Silverstre is totaly useless that leaves us with just Vermy, JD and Gallas. Im not comfortable with that, when injuries strike we are doomed. We must sign one more CD imo.

  2. Hi SF….I read this on another blog. Could this be true?

    Good evening, as an Arsenal supporter for more than 30 years, i have been coming onto this site for last 2 weeks and it is becoming quite obvious that arsenal fans are becoming quite frustrated with transfer dealings, therefore i feel the need to reveal two imminent arrivals

    writing this would get me sacked if my bosses were to find out, therefore i cannot reveal my source,

    2nd August – Arsenal FC will announce a double signing

    David Villa from Valencia and Daniele De Rossi – AS Roma will be announced with Phillipe Senderos and Emmanuel Eboue leaving to join Fiorentina

    like i said i cannot reveal my source, only that with my line of business there is no room for rumour, just fact, we knew of Thomas Vermaelen signing a week before he did as well as Alexander Hleb, Thierry Henry and Lassana Diarra long before being announced by the british media

    Arsenal FC pay a cash fee to both clubs in order for a confidentiality agreement to be signed by both parties

    Carlos Vela also is to be loaned to Fulham along with Armand Traore to Birmingham or Portsmouth leading the race

  3. Although I don’t like the thought of another player going – especially as AW said that this year we would only build on our squad – I wish Kolo well and think that Arsenal would be foolish to turn down £15/17m. I am worried though that we will not reinvest. We possibly don’t need a defender but we definitely need a midfield cruncher and an attacker. So much rubbish is printed about who we are chasing but every day brings nothing! Add to the mix Eboue leaving and I think it leaves us short of a CL place. Huntelaar and Cattermole have been linked with us. I would go for it. Don’t think that Cattermole is not very good – if we don’t snap him up he will be at MUFC or LFC next year – he is aggressive, English and talented. I do so hope that the next week brings good news to the mighty Arsenal.

  4. Gibbs, we werer in the same situation last season but we have added Senderos to the squad. If he goes we need a new center back, but if he stays we are totally fine.

    Vermaelen was signed to replace Toure, that is obvious, and it was down to Toure and Senderos to stay and fight for places – if both are not up to it (quality-wise or mentally) then they will both be sold.

    Vermaelen looks like an improvement on Toure, so I am not concerned at all by the sale.

  5. Just read Arsenalkenya’s comment! I too have heard some speculation about this. Apparently De Rossi was put onto the official Arsenal web site squad list early yesterday morning. He was down as number 13. About 10 mins later it was removed! Another web link from Roma sources listed him as an Arsenal player.

  6. I am real sorry he is going and we are loosing the last of the “Old Guard”. What a player and fighter we should doth our caps to him but give the other idiot at MC a real hard time.

    I have to ask does AW actually have any money to spend.

    We really need that person in the centre of the park.

    As for Villa coming to Arsenal I dont think sooooooo but I would be happy to be wrong.

  7. @ Tom14 – i dont have faith in Sendy tbh. Maybe he improved while in Italy but im still not convinced that he’s good enough for us.

    @ iceman – is that De Rossi the Roma player? It cant be true, he is Roma through and through. He wont leave Roma even if Barca or Real Madrid come for him.

  8. The seven centrebacks comment is pretty misleading giving how subpar Silvestre is and that Song is cover for the midfield.

    Gallas – Likely to leave next season, not getting any younger
    Vermaelen – Starter
    Silvestre – Terrible, Left Back cover
    Senderos – May leave this summer
    Toure – Will leave this week
    Djourou – Good back up
    Song – Not a great CB, needed in midfield.

    That leaves three defenders with the quality to be involved in a squad with out ludicrously high ambitions.

  9. Kolo goes with my blessing. An ambassador for the club, and you can bet your nellie that he won’t be spouting stuff about the fans 3 days after his move.

    Ade has the potential to be a threat to Arsenal in a Man City shirt, a player that will definitley strengthen City. As good as a player Kolo WAS, he is no longer that player and once again, I take my hat off to AW and his phenomenal transfer dealings. Signed for how much? 400k some places are saying and sold for 14m 9 yrs later, once we’ve had the best of him. Well done Wenger

    Good Luck Kolo, all the best son

  10. If Senderos leaves we will sign someone like Sakho or Jerome Boateng. But I honestly believe that Senderos is a quality defender – he was great when Toure went off to the ACN two years ago.

  11. I’d take Senderos over Silvy and Song at CB any day. He has a mature personality too. Wouldn’t be so assured if he was first choice, but I hope we keep him this year, he’s a good squad player.

  12. @ Tom14 – yeah, untill he played against a bloke called Drogba. He was traumatized and hasnt been the same since that game lol.

  13. I’m nervous about letting him go. There’s no doubt he’s quality. And from the pre-season games so far Vermaehlen is going to take a month or two into the season to fit in.

    But, he wasn’t that great on set-pieces last season. Game against Stoke anyone?

  14. RCB: Gallas – Djourou – Song
    LCB: Vermaelen – Senderos – Silvestre

    That is more than enough cover when you compare it to other clubs.

    If one goes, another comes in.

  15. @ Gibbs – True, but Drogba does the same to every defender. But I think it is his mental ability that let him down. if he mans up, he is a quality defender.

  16. im sad. thats all i can say. the whole thing leaves me a bit nervous for next season.

  17. @ArsenalKenya You having a laugh. Nearly feel off my chair. So, if you were a betting man and all that?

    Anyone else place any faith in these comments/predictions?

  18. Hey! u guuys i don’t know for sure where we’re heading to. Is it a must dat at the end of every season we have to lose at least a star or two?

    I don’t think toure should leave at which ever cost.

    With that said i wish you all a wonderful afternoon.

  19. I would be absolutely stunned if De Rossi were to leave Roma for anyone, never mind come to England. He is the heir to Totti as Roma captain and the amount of money required to prise him from the eternal city would be beyond Arsenal. He also has no intention of leaving Italy so any rumour about him is unfortunately just that.

    Living in London with an Italian background, if I could choose a player for that DM role it would be De Rossi, but I know it wouldn’t happen and if by some miracle it did, he would probably find it hard to settle and Arsene doesn’t want to get burned ala Reyes again.

  20. Clearly the Barndoor & Toure deals were/are way beyond too good to turn down, especially as both players were essentially weak links for us – and may well even prove to be weak links for Citeh too.

    £9m for Eboue would also fall into that category. Even more so if it was to be the start of us readjusting the wage structure by shipping out the average squad players on excessive wages & replacing them with equal (maybe even superior) quality on the sort of wages that their equivalents at Ushtd for e.g. are presumably on. Which in turn would allow us to be more competitive wage-wise for the top players. Cant see that happening at all though as for one it would require a massive overhaul, not just one or two players in/out.

    And the underlying fear for me is that given his economics fetish perhaps these summer sales are a case of Wenger seeing that it’s a “seller’s market” out there as a result of Real/Citeh artificially inflating prices. And therefore he’s looking to sell while prices are high but will be more inclined to hold on until the market evens out again before buying.

    I hope I’m wrong & he shocks us all but that’s my nagging doubt

  21. At the end of the day Wenger knows what he is doing! He isnt silly

    I totally agree with the Adebayor sale, 25M for a player who didnt want to be at the club was fantastic, and 16M for Toure is silly money, we paid peanuts for Kolo and kept him all the while he was good at football, now he seems to be declining we are selling him for a massive sum, thats top, top business!

    I think Selling Eboue would be a bad idea as he provides excellent cover down the right side, although i do think this story has just been printed on the back of the Toure transfer, and basically made up by the tabloids

    I think we will see a new centre half arrive in the coming days, whether that is Hangeland we will have to wait and see? and unless any more are sold like Eboue or Senderos then i dont think we will sign anyone else…i could be wrong though

  22. Neilo – no.

    billy – How can you be nervous.

    Compare the 08/09 squad to the squad we have now.

    We have sold Toure, Ade and maybe Eboue, with Arshavin, Rosicky, Eduardo and Vermaelen added in.

    hardly a step backwards, and I fully expect a couple of new faces.

  23. Posted by ArsenalKenya | July 29, 2009, 7:01 pm

    if that’s true I’ll do a sex piss in my pants with excitment. Although 2nd August is a Sunday and transfers are never announced then.

    More chance of me bedding a member of Girls Aloud me thinks…..even the ginger one.

  24. With Adebayor gone, Toure as good as gone and Eboue set to follow him, it looks to me like Wenger has finally realised that championships can be won and lost in January and February which coincidentally is when all 3 of these players will be off to Angola for a month to play in the African Nations.

    Is he helping strengthen Man City or setting them up for a fall?

  25. @ ArsenalKenya – That is a bizarrely specific piece of information. If I could believe it I would, but my rational mind says it’s bollocks. We shall see though 🙂

  26. @Tom14 Song lacks d pace to make a good quality CB and point of correction Silvestre is done,with all his experience is not a quality CB or a good cover 4 LB. Gallas will leave by next summer… i hope am wrong on dis one, but time will tell. Dat will leave us with DJ and Vermaelen cos kolo and sendoros will be gone. Well 4 dis season will av just 3 CBs.

  27. I wish him well but I am not happy about him leaving. He is a legend and I expect the management to persuade him t stay.

    OKAY he is going, are we buying another player to replace him? If we could not win last season who says we will win this season minus Adebayor ( who I don’t give a fuck about) and Toure ( who I love and cheris).

    I guess I will have to believe what others thing about us if we don’t buy any more players these summer…a selling club.

  28. If what Arsenalkenya said is true we will be a great outfit there is one thing that I’m wondering though why didn’t the people who saw this Daniel de Rossi thing print screen it, then it might prove that this isn’t some fan dreaming.

  29. I’m increasingly worried about central midfield.

    We were awful there last season (despite Song’s improvement) and we simply must bring in a quality player there.

    If we don’t and we don’t make any visible progress I think we’d have to look at the manager. Making good money with transfers isn’t good enough if it’s not translated into success on the pitch

  30. Will be sad to see King Kolo leave but he has pasy his best and he is now only giving average performances and 14-15 million is a good deal for that. I do think we need to sign another CB when Kolo leaves as Senderos cant be depended on. He is not arsenal standard and should be sold. Same as Silvestre.

  31. Toure will be always an Arsenal, and we wish him all the best.
    As for ArsenalKenya’s comments, i hope my friend that this will become reality, if so, we will dfently grab at least triplet this season.Based on what u’ve said abt predicting TH14, A Hleb and the rest… who knows, but We can only pray for that to happen.
    @Fazmondo, very good point!!.
    Sanderos?? i like him, he is tall and plus his little experience in Milan, I think he’d be good for us.Only thing I know is, Arsenal dont beg players, this is a law of demand and offer, but i know that in Wenger’s heart he wants to keep him, as well as most of the fan.Gibbs stated about Sandy agst Drogba: You must remember that those days, Drogba was terrible a striker to any defender those days and especially Sandy was still a rookie on his job and finally,Italy is the land of defensive oriented football,you will defntly become a better defender if you come to Italy to play, most of the world best defenders come from there,look at the likes of Canavaro, De Rossi, Gattuso…. So I think that despite of a the little time Sandy had on pitch while he was in Milan,its for sure that he must have improved and matured his defensive skills.

  32. Michael – There was nobody in the league who was better than Denilson inc entral midfield lasts eason. Believe me, trust in the young lad.

  33. radads,
    so why did Wenger loan Senderos out in the first place? Why should he have loaned out a player he actually wants at the club? Where’s the logic behind that reasoning?

    He certainly didn’t gain that much experience in Italy since he didn’t play a lot. It’s not possible to say if he’s improved or not.

  34. Tom14,
    WOT? Denilson is a lot better than people think but to declare him last season’s best midfielder is mad.

    I know, I know, statistics. Just goes to show that one can’t always rely on stats.

  35. I’m disappointed. I feel Wenger should have attempted to turn Toure into a DM – he would have been apt – fast paced, defensive minded and can hit a shot.

    I really think this is a terrible mistake for Arsenal! I have to admit Toure was one of my favourite players. We’re not gaining anything much except losing a experienced and fairly reliable central defender.

  36. i dont think that is true.Sorry for that but i really don’t think it’s true.As for Toure,all the best.We all loved and we will miss you.

  37. @ DM – Toure at DM? Come on man. He is terrible in defende, why would he be any better at DM with his positioning skill?

    @ Michael – Denilson was the best defendive midfielder I should have said. Not by stats, but by performance.

  38. My fondest memory of Kolo Toure; scoring the only goal of the only european cup/CL semi final that Highbury ever saw. If I nearly cried after Jens saved the penalty against Villareal Kolo’s moment in the tie was the moment of pure ecstacy. I possibly never got more excited about a European goal except for Parlour’s Highbury screamer against Valencia but I digress…

    So long Kolo and good luck. The heart wished you were staying, the head knows that this is another outstanding piece of business from Arsene Wenger. I just hope there will be one more midfield signing, however I share Arseblogger’s fears that Arsene may be happy with what he’s got.

  39. I WOULD LIKE TO THANK KOLO FOR ALL THE SERVICES HE HAS GIVEN TO ARSENAL.LET US FOCUS ON HOW WE ARE GOING TO STRENG.THEN OUR SQUAD

  40. Though I never wanted him to go, I wish him all the best coz I believe it was all about football and not money. I’ll surely miss you dude(Kolo). He was great, always dedicated to the club.

  41. I wish kolo the best of luck he has saved arsenal so many times over the years and it will be a big shame to see him go but it’s a lot of money and we don’t need a centrel defender so we could buy a striker,someone who is tall so he and eduardo can play but I don’t think bendnters good enough

  42. I just want to wish Kolo all the best for the future. Hopefully he will be replaced, but if not then hopefully our current crop of defenders has the ability to cope with the new season.

  43. Toure’s transfer ithink will mark arsenal’s season trophless. But why do arsenal’s board don’t watch other clubs what they a doing.

  44. AW knows best, the club is in the business of making money, look at Toures deal, wow!!!,
    winning trophies is not one of them, for sure how can that be when the clubs just into selling and not replacing especially in areas where season in season out we have always been having a problem with. lets not fool ourselves,Mancity is going to challenge for 4th position or even better, but do we have the capability of challenging for anything. with the likes of EDU& ROSI who cannot be guarranteed to stay fit the whole season, what does the club fallback on. it is no wonder players like Cesc contemplate leaving for ambitious clubs, n then what will the fans say “Cesc is after money”, who would want to stay at a club with nothing to show or has lost the will to win even the most basic of trophies, the carling cup.

    we will see what happens starting season, AW knows, its like all the other managers do not know anything. bollocks….

  45. Dan – if you call yourself a true gooner then you should show a little faith! Yes, we have sold Adewanker and sadly probably Kolo, but we are still the Arsenal and that counts for everything don’t you know? Cesc is not leaving, and I have the feeling that AW is planning something sneaky. Why are we amassing all of this cash? We are not broke and can manage to pay our way re-stadium. I am hoping that it will be another Bergkamp or Arshavin coup. Come on you gooners, don’t lose faith with the mighty Red and White machine. Just look at the other big clubs (no not Citeh they are just moneyed wankers)but L’pool, Chelski etc – even with their cash are not overspending. We are waiting for the Citeh and Real idiots to fill up their benches and then maybe the prices will be more realistic. I guess that you are a bit nervous just like me and every AFC fan – but just think, you could wake up each morning knowing that you support the yids – and imagine what an embarrassment that would be!

  46. Dan, i agree with most of what u say. Asnl supporters are becomming business men or top accountant showing more concerned about the ballance sheet. Leave that to the share holders. Concern yourself with silverwere. WHU my club have done the same thing, look where we are now.
    Harry, thats really thinking outside the box.
    I which Toure all the best but have a feeling he will come back to hurt a few people. By the way Drogba can do that to most defenders and Senderos was a little young then.

  47. @Micheal,
    Id take Sanderos agst many PL center full back,he s been sent on loan cos he was still 21 or 22 those days, clubs send players on loan my friend for many reasons but one of them is for the benefit of having their players matured in other club instead of experimenting them in your own, by the time they come back, you know that they are fully matured.I beleive that he could be good enough for us as CB, thats my pov dude, you can stick on yours!!!
    Tell me, what do u think abt the reliability of Song as CDM? As you think that you have a much better reasonnin!!!!!!!

  48. Iceman listen, i admire your faith in AFC and Arsene Wenger but the facts are stearing us in the face. Im sure everyone is crazy about Arsenal like yourself but the tree is not bearing fruit. How much longer do you think fans should remain patient before the team wins something. They will all always be supporters of the club but its very difficult to keep the faith.

  49. TOURE THANK U!!!!!!!!! U ARE GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!

    now for him replacement. vermaelen won’t do, sakho, bassong won’t do aswell. hangeland would be ideal. richards maybe, marquez, marchena, gabi milito, samuel, chivu are me choices, but they will not be signed. sell senderos, eboue… maybe even silvestre and sign a world class defender wenger, hangeland!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  50. Radads
    Song is one of the ones the club should wait for. He improved allot during last season. Not CB for me though. What are the fans expecting from Denilson this season and do you all rate him as much as Wenger does. He played more games than anyone else.

  51. In this crazy frantic time of transfers and wish lists, I have been reflecting on the past few seasons. Why didn’t Arsenal win any trophies? Is it luck of quality players? Is it because we have softy, softy players when what needed was physical strength? Luck of leadership? etc…One of the common criticism the last few years has been that players play pretty football and wanted to walk the ball into the net. We didn’t win ugly. Here is my observation: If you really watched most of Arsenal games last season, it was not pretty. We did not pass accurately, rushed passes, and usually chasing after the ball. If we kept the ball usually it was in our half. Sometimes even the small teams passed better than us.

    So what’s it?…Talent and ability wise Arsenal is not any less than the teams that have finished in front of us the last few years. I’m not an expert, but there are a couple of ingredients we were missing. Balance, leadership, and winning mentality. Leaders are usually born, but winning mentality is learned. Remember Chelsea during Cloudio Renieri and Jose Mourinho. Mourinho did not really change a lot of personnel, he just instilled winning mentality to the team that already has some leaders in it. Commitment and never die and never quit before the end of the game. Then look at Real Madrid during the galacticos era.

    My point is that we really have the talent in this team, but Wenger has a lot of work to do to convnice these players that every game should be treated as a cup game. This is only achieved by working for each other as a team. Now that Ade & Toure are gone this may be possible. Toure, not because he lacks commitment, but only because he didn’t get along with Gallas. We as fans should support the team and players no matter what. Lack of commitment from a player aside we need to acknowledge that there will be a confidence issue and/or lack of form at some point for any player.

  52. how can arsenal be classed as a big club wanting to compete for major trophies when every season we sell experienced players? ok ade had to go but toure was needed as i have no confidence in tweety or senderos so at the moment jd is the only decent cover for verm and gallas and i cant see wenger buying another cb when he,s just sold one because he had too many.i keep hearing its great business blah,blah,blah but are we skint? what happened to having a strong squad or are we just a feeder club? we have just over a month to improve this squad before the transfer window closes and if we dont we will struggle to make the top 4 let alone win anything.goodluck kolo thanks for your service to arsenal fc.

  53. until 2005 I considered Arsenal to be a big club. Since then look at the grade of player they have purchased. They cant compeate any more. Remember all the injuries the club had last season, what if it occures again. Two weeks ago i would have said Asnl only required 2 or 3 players to challange for top 2 place, not any more.

  54. @arsenal kenya….i can tell u rite now many reasons we will not be buying villa or de rossi
    1. these are 2 highly patriotic players and playing outside their country of origin would be a last resort unless it was to a top club with huge ambition…….hmmmmm
    2. if villa was truly for sale i think barca wudv coughed up for him rather than swapping etoo,hleb and 45m for zlatan
    3. no transfers done on sunday
    4. our manager and clubs history and policy on going out and spending big on established and renowned quality
    ah wel back to reality……..
    can i just mention we had ibrahimovic with us on trial pre ajax and wenger sent him away

  55. I thought we may wake up to this news SF. I am actually a bit disappointed. Kolo has been a great servant to the Arsenal.

  56. I and lots of u out there feel so so sad that one of our loyalist had gone, but such is life. A man get to a level in life and quest for fresh challenges.
    It was really nice having KT’s name printed in our histroy book.

  57. @ AR – I’m not too disappointed. It’s sad to see a legend go but the timing is perfect. He’s just not going to be who he once was and with Vermaelen and Djourou the future I’m happy to see him get game time at another club – and us to get a huge wad of cash.

  58. Eboue going, going, GON—–? It will only be Alex Song left of the African players in Arsenal, we should be careful cos Africa is Arsenal, we dont want bad-blood to creep into AW’s transfer style. The universe is watching

  59. Seeing Eboue in the shirt throwing today makes me feel so so sad. cos the news of king KT has left and same day Eboue waving bye bye makes highly emotional mehttp://www.lovefooty.net/hannover-96-vs-arsenal-highlights-friendly-highlights/

  60. King Kolo has gone and I am very saddened now. He is a loss and we cannot do well with Senderos, Djourou, Silvestre, Gallas and Vermaelen as our CBs. Lfc have Agger, Carragher and Skrtel. United have Vidic and Ferdinand and Chelsea have Alex, Terry and Carvalho. All of which are superb CBs. We only have Gallas. And he isnt in top 5 of those CBs. We need another CB. Zapata, Richards, Hangeland, Marchena. We need to sign a CB and DM for defo and we could sign another striker.

  61. @ MYWAY – Are you implying that Wenger is selling players because they are African? Please don’t start up the racism stuff again because it’s patently obvious that it has nothing to do with racism.

    Adebayor acted like a fool and deserved to be sold off. Toure wants more football and his decision to go is fine. If Eboue goes it is for very similar reasons, because Sagna is (deservedly) ahead of him at right-back and he wants to play more games.

    Racism has nothing to do with it and if you bring that up again it would be extremely disappointing.

  62. Somewhere in the back of my mind I’m calculating that all of these transfers out are sustainable, but it does make me feel a bit sick seeing them wearing sky blue shirts. It’s just not right!

    Eboue is surplus these days, he’s as unhappy and disgruntled as Adebayor was. 10m for him? I’d take that any day of the week. Then tentatively anticipate some signings of our own… other than the guaranteed Villa and De Rossi of course.

  63. Spanish, I love the pic you put up of Kolo. That absolutely sums him up for me. The guy’s been an absolute diamond for us, and well done to AW and the scouts for that. I personally don’t agree that he’s moved to get more first team football – I think it’s all about the pay packet – but I don’t begrudge that of anybody. How can you, honestly? Kolo’s always been totally committed to the cause. He’s a fantastic lovely bloke. I hate to see him go – but you know Arsene is not the least bit sentimental about the team. He’s got a fantastic price for Kolo and Ade – we’ve now got pots of money in the transfer kitty and hopefully, for the sake of our nerves, he’ll spend some of it very shortly! (I read that Hangeland chap is hesitating about signing a new contract… )

    Meanwhile – another clean sheet against Hannover!

    Good luck, Kolo, and thanks for the memories.

  64. I really really really really could never ever believe that Villa is going to come to Arsenal. I don’t have enough optimism to eventhink of that. But De Rossi is probably as likely. The players i can see coming in would be Matuidi….. because he is cheap…. and French. And Huntelaar. Because he is a better version of Ade. And Cheaper. So while Barca and Madrid weren’t able to prise Villa away from Valancia, i do think that Arsenal will not meet the valuation of 40 million pounds by Valencia. That is the money from all the Kolo and Ade sales.

    Regarding Eboue. I do not want to see him leave. He is the best cover for RB. And he can also play right wing. While not the best. He is a professional. and does a satisfactory job, and is a good defender. Which is something we need with the apparent fragility of the Arsenal squad.

  65. I watched the game last night, excellent 1st half with WG and TV playing very well together, DJ and TV did not have the same cohesion in the 2nd half. Also, maybe Wenger is still looking but I thought Song struggled a bit in the holding role, he seems to try the intricate stuff a bit too much, leave that to Fab etc, he looked good last night. Does anyone know if Rosicky is injured again as he didn’t play again.
    Good luck to Kolo, but has anyone noticed City are only managing to get their second or third choice targets.

  66. Forgot, is there anything in the rumour of Pat coming back? To me it would make perfect sense, he could be used as a coach type figure for all of our up and coming DMC players such as Song, Den etc. I hope it happens, it would be great to see him in the red and white again, then bring back Henry and Pires again. Joking aside he would be an invincible after we have just lost our last one.

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  68. Pat to Arsenal – this might work. We are desperate for a leader but is it too late? He is an inspirational character and he might be just what our many young players need, plus if he did return think how much it would piss off the yids! More seriously, I am worried about the impending departure of Eboue, who I think is decent and has pace down the flanks. What if Sagna gets injured? If he does go – that will be appx £50m quid in the kitty. Now, either Arsene is planning to do a runner with a nice retirement fund, or the Gunners are planning something hush-hush and BIG – please God let it be the latter.

  69. De Rossi gossip flowing…was ArsenalKenya somewhere near the mark? Who knows! Mind you, I like the sound of Matuidi & Vieira together to give us some needed steel. We must keep our best players like Cesc, and this might help, plus if De Rossi did emerge as a real buy then I think it is game on.

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