Toure Leaving Too? What The Hell Is Going On?
Okay, I understand Adebayor leaving. He’s an idiot, has no desire to play for Arsenal and attacking-wise, it is not our weakest area. Although unfortunately, the injury which will keep out Nasri until Xmas is a big setback. Yes, I know the official word is that he will be back in 2/3 months but to recover from a broken leg and get up to full fitness and form is asking a lot from the boy. Especially with our luck with injuries.
Anyway, after weeks of speculation there finally seems to be solid reports that Kolo is going to join Manchester City, for around £15 million.
I haven’t even mentioned it because to be honest, I didn’t think it would happen.
I just don’t get it.
Adebayor isn’t that much of a loss, although it is a loss. We’ve made one of our potential rivals stronger, and not replaced him. As I’ve mentioned, we’ve got Van Persie, Eduardo, Arshavin and even Theo who can play up top so it’s not the worst situation.
But selling Kolo to City seems like a big mistake to me.
With their 50 strikers, one area they are now looking to strengthen is defence, and why are we helping them?!
It doesn’t make any sense.
We’ve made £25 million from Adebayor, so are we desperate for the money? If we do make £15 million and essentially make £30 million (after taking the £10 million for Thomas Vermaelen) then Arsene seriously needs to re-invest that into the squad.
But I can see that money not being spent, and now I’m worried.
Before, I was optimistic - we had a very strong central defence with Toure, Gallas, Vermaelen, Djourou and possibly Senderos, although we’ll probably sell him as well. And don’t even get me started about Silvestre.
But it’s the same thing over and over again. Arsene doesn’t like to upset his first eleven. He wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving first team players on the bench. He is content on having a great starting line-up and then ‘adequate’ backup. To win anything you need strength and depth, and by selling our senior players we’ll never get there.
After the criticism of Arsene at the end of last season, he has said judge him on this coming season. With that, you would think he would go for broke and get his squad ready to win the major honours. Instead, he seems to be content selling experienced players, and not replace them.
I’ve never been one to urge the manager to buy players.
Look through my archives, and you will see I’m not one of those Arsenal fans that wants to bring in superstars for stupid money. I generally only talk about transfers when they happen.
But now, I’m in the camp that says we need to bring in players.
Hopefully this is another of Arsene’s ’secret transfer dealings’ and we’ll see a couple of new players come in before the season starts.
But there isn’t long left until we kick off the campaign against Everton so I wouldn’t hold my breath.
July 28th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Hangeland and Chamakh will sign in the next 7 days mark my words!! you heard it hear first
July 28th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Am I the only one who thinks Toure is an absolutely average defender? I don’t see the problem here.
July 28th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
It this rumour is true then it could be a good bit of business. One proviso is that Arsene replaces Kolo with a better bigger defender. If the money is going to be absorbed into the coffers, it is a retrograde step. Kolo has done good things for the club, but there are better defenders out there. Goodbye Kolo Hello Brede?
July 28th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Average? This is the guy who was a massive part of the invincibles! You need to show the man more respect.
I hope Arsene knows what he’s doing, because over the last few years it seems like he hasn’t got a clue.
July 28th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
What a piece of truly awful, uninspired reactionary nonsense. You are exactly the kind of person who NoTW and Goal.com target with their headlines. If you would actually take a second to think things through logically instead of follow the media hyteria you might actually come up with something useful and interesting to contribute. Leave the shit blogging to people like Wrighty7.
July 28th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Robert, I fully respect Toure - he is a legend. But he is our third chocie center back who will not be an improvement on Djourou next season.
15 million is great business.
July 28th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Hangeland and Chamakh will sign in the next 7 days mark my words!!
Nice try, but we dont nees Chamakh, nor any other striker.
What we do need will be a quality defender to replace Toure and a back up RB if Eboue leaves.
We are still waiting for our new defensive midfielder, but IMO, AW will stick with Denilson ( who should be sold ) and Song ( who is getting better ). This will still make us weak and non combative in midfield.
If, and I am saying if, we dont win any silverware this year, then Mr Wenger had better pray that there is another club waiting to take him on.
With either DB10 replacing him or Martin O’neill
July 28th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
King Kolo, loved his work rate, will respect him always. Certainly not average in his time.
Key points to consider:
Lost his edge last year defensively post African Nations (Malaria? Who knows, didn’t get it back though).
Never worked well with Gallas, who is staying.
One year left on contract - remember losing Flamini for nothing?
At £16m, can anyone honestly say this isn’t good buisiness?
Finally and most importantly, over 30 days left to end of window. Patience everyone, you know how Arsene likes a bit of end-of-window brinkmanship.
July 28th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Oh yeah, finally, all these people suggesting AW should go…
(1) who do you replace him with
(2) who do you replace him with that can handle the lack of finance thats available currently
Get real and get behind him.
July 28th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
40yr Gooner, if you want Denilson to be sold why bother talking about football? You are clearly an idiot.
July 28th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
On first glance £16 mil for a 28 year old who wasn’t at his best last season seems like good business to me. We will have Gallas and Vermaelen as our first choice pairing with Djourou and Song as cover. I think that is good enough personally for the season ahead. I very much doubt Wenger will sign another centre back to replace him.
But on the other hand Kolo is experienced, well liked and versatile. Is it really worth selling him, especially to strengthen the team that could push us out of the Champions League places? I’m not sure to be honest.
If Wenger is going to use these funds to sign a proven defensive midfielder then I’m all for it. But I have a sad feeling that we are becoming a selling club and need to sell big players every summer as we have no money.
To sum it up if Wenger doesn’t use this money to sign a defensive midfielder, and even a right midfielder in my opinion, then I can see Man City pipping us to 4th. And then we will be asking some serious questions of our club/manager’s transfer policies this summer come May.
July 28th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Tittle Tattle, I understand what you’re saying but Toure is still, in my eyes, a quality defender. And I feel he’s unfairly been made out to be a scapegoat by a lot of Arsenal fans for our defensive problems.
The fact is Vermaelen is unproven in English football and if for instance he did find he was struggling then Toure could easily slot back in. And what would happen if we had injuries on top of this?
All the top sides have 3/4 top central defenders. Liverpool have Agger, Carragher and Skertel, Manchester United have Ferdinand, Vidic, Brown, O’Shea and Evans. Chelsea have Terry, Carvalho, Alex and Ivanovic.
The only defender that has any experience winning anything with Arsenal is Toure (and Clichy), and we’re selling him.
I could understand if we took City to the cleaners and got £20+ million but that’s not the case. We’re selling him for market value here.
July 28th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Firstly i want to wish kolo the best because he has been a tremendous servant for Arsenal however i feel its time for some new faces, its time to freshen up our team with new faces, out with the old in with the new. Hangeland is someone with height who is dominant in the air and is someone that we need. kolo is to similar to gallas and djourou and i think that with gallas vermaelen hangaland?? and djourou we have a nice mixture of centre backs who offer different qualities. wenger should use that money to buy Huntelaar, hangeland and a central midfielder (possibly Inler or matuidi)
i trust wenger!!
July 28th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Huge Mistake in my books, and what worries me more is the fact he mentions we have 7 defenders, WELL ONLY A COUPLE OF THEM ARE ANY FECKN GOOD, Djourou, Silvestre and Senderos are terrible!!! Unless we replace Toure with Hangelaand our season is destined to fail! The injury curse has already struck btw, I just dont see the young kids have come on far enough for trophies and the promised Experience we need??? Has anyone watched enough of Vermalaen to pass judgement???
July 28th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Kolo hasnt been the same since getting ill a couple of years ago and is no longer 1st choice. Good things are being said about Vermaelen and with Djourou and Gallas aswell as Silvestre and Senderos, we have enough cover. Even Song can play there.
Also with African Nations Cup coming up it will minimise losses, especially if Eboue joins him out of the door. £15million is great business and way over the odds, it stinks of desperation from Man City.
I would be very suprised if we didn’t buy someone before the end of the window. If Kolo leaves then we definately need to add someone to the squad, probably a DM.
July 28th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Toure is leaving cos he realised the fans are shit, you just called Ade an idiot. and then thier are the eboue bashers etc etc.
Toure is gonna be the 1st of many players that fans dont wont to leave that will leave. you thought Toure and Cesc hate Ade and Eboue as much as you do, or do you think they have seen their friend forced out of a club that they thought was full of decent supporters ?
carry on bashing our players and you make our club look shit.
ps players have internet also, and spend alot of time at home when they arnt training !!
if he leaves blame the fans
July 28th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Does anyone know how long Gallas has on his Arsenal contract? I thought I heard last season he only had one year left as well?
July 28th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Toure should stay imo.
But if Arsene has a reson to let
him go; so be it!
And please stop talking about city as
a seriuos rival. They have a long way
to go before they are near the top four.
Team-spirit, consistancy and team work.
July 28th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Unfortunately Wenger said when interviewed about it “we have many centre-backs, seven centre-backs and I’m in a position where we have to play some in midfield…”. This implies he feels he doesn’t need a replacement. Therefore I be surprised if he bought anyone now.
The good news is I’m convinced that the club will probably sell in a year or two to probably the US guy (as they appear to like him) and then we will see better investment.
As for Toure I be sad to see him go. He did well for us.
July 28th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
I can’t believe no-one has mentioned that Kolo put in a transfer request in January. Is it beyond belief that he was told stay until the summer and then we’ll let you go? We’ve already signed his replacement and he is better in the air, which is one of out key weaknesses. Thank you Toure, enjoy your big pay rise in Manchester. Additional funds are clearly being put together to buy another player, Huntlaar is a possibility but I suspect our biggest summer purchase will be a centrall midfielder.
July 28th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Hey retard would it hurt to do a bit of research before you start opining about shiet? you make your self look bad. Official word is Samir is out for 6 weeks, and let see what Wenger does before the season start we need a DM. and all the morons who call themselves fans should stop bashing the players u look like arse
July 28th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Edd…
If you think a squad with Robinho, Tevez, Santa Cruz, Adebayor, Bellamy, Wright Phillips, Ireland, Barry, Petrov, De Jong, Kompany, Toure, Bridge, Richards etc (plus another expensive centre back to come) is not good enough to threaten our 4th place next season then you can’t know too much about football.
July 28th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
He is not good enough, lets all accept that.
July 28th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Thank you arsenal board!!!
Under the leadership of the great Hilwood,our club is going from good to brilliant……
The thing that really upset me,is YOU ARSENAL FANS.
I blame you for the disgracing behavior of the board,those evil people destroying our club,and you arsenal fans doesn’t do anything about that…..
July 28th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Toure will be missed he was a fantastic player but I would love it if we would use the money from him to buy his more talented younger brother who would fit all of our CDM necessities although i seriously doubt Barca would release him for a fee that Arsene could afford.
July 28th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
the problem is that Silvestre is past his peak, gallas has one season left, and Toure could do well for atleast 2more seasons. I cant understand why SIlvestre is been kept instead of Toure. WHy sell to a rival, whysell at all. Is it that we need to refinance debt? Then be honest Mr. Wenger and say we need to pay debts. Dont say you have 7 defenders becasue we love arsenal and we are watching from the outside, so we will judge from what we see on the outside. So tell the truth. Because if you say we have seven defenders, then gallas and silvestre will be gone in a season, because they are in their 30’s and senderos is being offered to other clubs. So us as supporters dont like what has been going on and we are selling too many players and not adding. We always replace players, or dont even replace players instead of adding to the squad. This just hurts, we dont want to be known as a selling club.!
July 28th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Wenger shoulde negotiate with City to get Micah Richards in the deal, he is young and versatile and can fill in on the right side for an injury to Sagna……if not, then get Hageland. i don’t think we need any one else unless Eboue leaves, then i would expect to replace him with a right back that can also play in the midfield in a pinch. We have Song, Denilson, Diaby, Ramsey, Cesc, Nasri and even Djourou who can play in the central midfield…everyone talks about how we need a defensive midfielder, but that is not the case. The arsenal style does not rely heavily on an enforcer in the middle, especially when we have the finishers up top…the midfield needs to be full of creative players as we rely heavily on our defensive line to take care of the other teams offensive players. we would have had an entirely different season last year (win or 2nd in EPL and CL final) if we had been able to put the ball in the net…Ade was horrible, Eduardo was out, and we only had Arshavin fo rthe second half of the season…Bendtner needs a run of games for confidence and we should play a 4-3-3 as follows:
Almunia
Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Clichy
Walcott, Cesc, Arshavin
v. Persie, Bendtner, Eduardo
we would score a massive amount of goals…
July 28th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Judd… the new Ossie Ardiles!
July 28th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
15 milj would be almost as much as we bought Arshavin…
Thats good business
Thanks Kolo for the good years.
July 28th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
@ Judd
good point, defensive midfielders are an obsession for some people but but the position didn’t even exist 5 years ago
July 28th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Tittle Tattle - you are not alone mate. Me and most of the gooners I know don’t rate Kolo and have wanted him replaced since middle of last season. I DO NOT like Gallas but he is solid defender and when he has an aggressive, dominant partner is absolutely superb as he showed at Chelsea when he played with that cuntmuppet Terry. Kolo is a fantastic athlete but I think we should put things in perspective. The guy was never a bona fide defender but such a good athlete and a trier he could play in many roles. His defending is hesitant and indecisive and is not aggressive enough. His one advantage was in a foot race in a one-on-one and there were many instances last season where it seems he has lost that. Not rating him now is not a mark of disrespect, it is an acknowledgement that we can’t be sentimental. £16m would be inspired.
July 28th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Who are you calling retard. I and many who share my views have followed Arsenal for decades. I stick with facts. Today Arsene was asked about Toure he says he is willing to sell as he has many defenders. That tells me he may consider not buying a replacement. As for defensive midfielder, if it happens then great but don’t be too surprise if Arsenal sticks with the squad they currently have.
July 28th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
I think Toure has been a great servant for us, but truth has too be told that he is a good defender, but not a great, his form has definetley slipped since the last African Nations and his illness, then there is the Gallas/Transfer Request/Captaincy issues, and with Arsene being offered £15-16 million, I think it’s the right time to let him go, if Arsene didn’t he would do his ultimate to keep him.
Personally I think Senderos is better than many give him credit for, he’s had a couple of errors in key games (Liverpool/Chelsea etc) and everyone jumps on the bandwagon and hammers him, if that was the case a few years ago, Adams would never have stayed at the Arsenal for as long as he did, he was shocking in his earlier years!
My other thoughts are that even if we brought Vidic and Ferdinand, or Terry, we would still concede more goals than Liverpool and Chelsea, and that’s purely because Arsene plays the attacking game over any other type, Barcelona are that same, defensively they are poorly, but they get away with it through the midfield and attack, and I think that’s how Arsene likes/wants to play, has done for the last 13 years, and I don’t think he’ll change anytime soon!
July 28th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
is it only me who is starting to think man city buy from arsenal and weaken our team they’ll be able to break into the top 4 easier…..
July 28th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
The reason we need money is to buy players like Kolo, and not so we can sell players like Toure.
July 28th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
When you sit down and really think about it Tour e has been a superb servant yes,but in the past season or so he has really dropped in performance impact in that the times he actually made the startin eleven wasnt down to merit but more to injuries of surrounding players..
Beginning of last season he was injured and Dj and Gallas started our season off,they played well and seemed to quite gel and we were full of props for them and then Kolo recovered and all of a sudden hehad to be in the team and DJ wa dropped amidst injury rumours which i felt wernt true and that also coincided in DJ’s drop of form.
I do not think many people would argue DJ and Gallas was better than Kolo and Gallas.
its sad to see him go because he is pretty much the last thing we have been holding on as far as the great times we had but its time we made more great times,i guess now it makes sense why Wenger was reluctant to let Silvestre go because his 4CBs are
Gallas
Vermaelen
Djourou
Silvestre
Senderos he is going we jus waiting for him to make up his mind where to go or for summ one to make a bid,but listening too Wenger you can tell he doesnt see Senderos’ future at Arsenal.
I mus say after takin some time to think things thru I aint hyper ventilating bout Toure leaving it kinda brings a shape to the options and also gives us money money money hahaha
July 28th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Edd that is some statement to make about city not being anywhere near the top 4,they are closer to the top 4 than we are ffs.Its hightime fans like you came out of your state of denial and accept the fact that , if they haven’t already overtaken us they are certainly on a par.I for one am really worried we wont finish in the top 4 next season,where will arsene go then because he wont be hanging around and fab will be gone also.
July 28th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
why sell toure when he could be ur answer as a holding midfielder.i know he didnt have a gud season last year but he is still a player that can fill in a few positions.and always gives he’s all for arsenal.why are we selling our players too strenthin,what could turn out 2 be one of our rivals?is it just me or does it not make sence????i have faith in arsene but he needs 2 pull out a few very gud signings if we are 2 challange this year
July 28th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Wenger has baffled even his own self. Adebayor out? no problem, we got killers in front of goal. Toure out? We got… Goodness gracious! I trust old age comes with wisdom. Lets see where this money is going - a buy or a cry!
July 28th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
Kolo gonna go off soon and to a team that will be our closest rival next season - that’s nuts! Wenger lost it!
Arsenal’s team last season needs more and better players but what Wenger did = sold Ade and Toure now and just got one crappy $10M defender?
I have serious doubts Arsenal will be in top 4, if that happens wenger can FO and get someone that can do the job right. All you blind wenger fans are not looking at this…trust him is all you can say, crap!
July 29th, 2009 at 2:16 am
please stop this nonsence comment about kolo not good or he is past his prime. kolo is arsenal best defensive player after campbell and tony adams. i personnally believe arsenal needed money to clear thier debt and by so diong they need to sell thier experienced players. let me tell you, i will rather keep this players and make a champions league football rather than selling them to our future rivals and loose the chapions league spots to them. this is plain stupid that arsene and the board of the club are doing. i am worried this tremedious club is absolutelly going down with wengers riegn. IF ARSENE DO NOT MAKE THE TOP FOUR NEXT YEAR HE NEEDS TO GO AND FINE ANOTHER CLUB BECAUSE WE DONT NEED HIM. THIS CLUB WAS ESTABLISHED TO WIN TROPHYS BY TROPHYS BUT WE ARE NOT DOING THAT ALL BECAUSE OF THESE STUBBORNESS AND DISGUSRTED OLD MAN. THESE 50MIL IS GOING TO THE CLUB DEPT FACT. LETS US BE LIKE MANUTD ALTHOUGH THEY HAVE HUGE DEBT BUT THEY ARE WINNING TROPHYS AFTER TROPHYS EVERY YEAR AND MAKE MONEY TO CLEARIFY THIER DEBT WHICH IS SENSIBLE THAN OURS TYRING TO SELL OUR BEST PLAYERS AND LOSE OUR CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SPOT. IT WILL BE WORST THAT PLAYERS LIKE ARSHAVIN, FAB, VAN PERSIE, GALLAS AND SAGNA WILL LIKELY LEAVE IF WE DO NOT MAKE THE CHAMPION LEAGUE SPOT. THE WORSIET THING IS GALLAS HAS ONLY A YEAR LEFT AND HE GOING TO LEAVE FOR FREE TRANSFER NEX YEAR. WHY NOT SELL GALLAS INSTEAD OF KOLO. PLS WENGER IF YOY ARE ASLEEP WAKE UP. YOU ARE CHANGING THESE DAY. WORRID TO BE ARSENAL FUN FACT FACT FACT FACTTTTTT.
July 30th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Toure has never been the same since the Africans Cup of Nations. He got injured and was never the same player again. I must admit when you actually look at the stats Gallas has actually been the better defender this season (when he’s not injured). Wenger knows what he’s doing, he’s waiting transfer deadline day!