Toure's going!

SteveO 35 · Post by **SteveO 35** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 2:10 pm

Â£14m (or even Â£12m) for a fat arsed headless chicken last rumoured to have a good game about 2 years ago. Let me think about that one for two nano-seconds.......

If there was even half a chance of spending 7m of the 14m on someone who could actually defend against set-pieces and had an ounce of positional sense then we should take more of Citeh's silly money and giggle all the way to the bank.

Post by **g88ner** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 2:15 pm

augie wrote:However, unlike most other Gooners, I am now firmly in the lets sell both kolo and gallas camp

Think you might be alone there, mate... happy camping, Augie!

augie · Post by **augie** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 2:29 pm

g88ner wrote:
augie wrote:However, unlike most other Gooners, I am now firmly in the lets sell both kolo and gallas camp

Think you might be alone there, mate... happy camping, Augie!

I like being out on my own as such - of course it means that I am right and ye are all wrong but nothing unusual there then

All joking aside I do not see how pairing vermaelen with either kolo or gallas will improve things from last season as they all seem to be less than dominating in the air

I notice how many are advocating the sale of kolo and tying that in with the fact that his contract expires next season.........do some more research lads cos gallas is also in the last year of his contract

digger · Post by **digger** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 2:30 pm

Good point. But I think Gallas is unlikely to sign an extension if Toure is still there.

I don't see why we haven't trialled Toure at CDM? He's a crap Centre back, but has loads of energy....

JJ1980 · Post by **JJ1980** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 2:42 pm

thats because we have our world class* CDM lined up ready to buy but we are just stalling over paying him the extra Â£1.56p extra per week he's demanding before putting pen to paper.

(* = potential)

Post by **REB** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 3:10 pm

its ok we still have big phil

but while i love kolo as a player he just isnt as good as he was when cambell was next to him .

U.F.G Anfield '89 · Post by **U.F.G Anfield '89** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 3:12 pm

i'm a big fan of kolo but even i can see that 14m is a lot more than he's worth, sad as i'd be to see him go we can't afford to be sentimental at the moment. I say take the money.

i'd sell gallas too as long as we can find a buyer, i'm sick of his bullshit. sorry augie you no longer have the campsite to yourself.

all of this is of course contingent on the money being reinvested in the squad.

dvbrisgooner1 · Post by **dvbrisgooner1** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 3:30 pm

donaldo wrote:He has a year left on his contract and would miss 6 weeks for the ANC.Â£14m seems a good deal to me.But we have to spend this and the Greedy money.

If he only has 1 year left then Â£14m is rip-their-arm-off money. Especially for a bloke who, as you say, won't be here for a month or more. Oh, and he made a transfer request in January because he wasn't in the side. I love Kolo, but it's time to say thanks mate, and goodbye, with all our best wishes.

the playing mantis · Post by **the playing mantis** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 4:11 pm

ok, toure was an invincible, but without sol hes lost, still thought he was a weak link in the defence back then (rightly or wrongly)

whats undeniable though is that kolo has been turd for 2 years and gallas is the best defender at the club by a distance. getting rid of gallas would make us weaker. For all his 'misdeamonors' (2 i can think of) agreed sitting down at brum was childish but what he said about the team was bang on, and im sure aimed at kicking a few arses into gear. although not kolos humoungous one.

kolo is no where near as good a defender as gallas, simple, and is replaceable, i dont think hes much better than even big phil ponderous (who i dont rate)

bergkamp10 · Post by **bergkamp10** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 4:17 pm

the playing mantis wrote:toure is no loss he wouldnt strengthen city, a couple of years back yes, now no. Hes error prone, too short, constantly out of position, a panicky influence and as his pace wanes he cant get himself out of situations he creates with his errors.

initially i always thought he was too little and positionally inept, but he made up for that with pace and power, (the inter game at highbury when he was up against martins summed this up) now these are going hes not top class anymore.

a ok defender but not good enough 1st choice for a top 4 team anymore. (if ever).

it probably has something to do with the size of his humongous arse....

I must say that in the current climate we have to keep him. We are sadly now a selling club, but need to keep the more experienced players, even if he will miss a month or so..!

But please GOD sign at least one CM player.....................

Otherwise we are in for another excruciating season...!

PI7ES · Post by **PI7ES** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 4:19 pm

Hardly a selling club, by selling a player that knowone at the club wanted to keep. 25 mil for that usless cu.nt great deal.

Tallest gooner · Post by **Tallest gooner** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 4:24 pm

I am aslo a big fan of kolo always have been, BUT after seeing what money we can fetch for a player with only 1 year contract left(personaly i dont think contracts are worth the paper they are written on),
i would be willing to let him go 3 reasons >has been poor last 2 seasons >gallas is a much better defender >vermaleen has arrived.

I do think kolo has come in for a bit of unfair stick on here in the past, and the bout of malaria he picked up didnt help, not the kind of thing you just brush off like wenger seemed to think.

To many passengers in our team so maybe cashing in on him wouldnt be bad especially if 14 mill is kncking about.

djhdjh · Post by **djhdjh** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 5:08 pm

augie wrote:
g88ner wrote:
augie wrote:However, unlike most other Gooners, I am now firmly in the lets sell both kolo and gallas camp

Think you might be alone there, mate... happy camping, Augie!

I like being out on my own as such - of course it means that I am right and ye are all wrong but nothing unusual there then
All joking aside I do not see how pairing vermaelen with either kolo or gallas will improve things from last season as they all seem to be less than dominating in the air I notice how many are advocating the sale of kolo and tying that in with the fact that his contract expires next season.........do some more research lads cos gallas is also in the last year of his contract

He is but we won't get Â£14m for Gallas, even from Man City (not sure about Notts County, though!!) so may as well get the year out of him given that this leaves us with Senderos and Sylvester (

) as our cover (let's not even pretend we might replace someone).

dbrien · Post by **dbrien** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 5:33 pm

i think Toure is good when he has a big lumbering centre half behind who will try and win the headers and Toure deals with the scraps in behind, like his relationship with Campbell. Problem is that Gallas and Toure are of a similar height so they both go for the same headers, dont win any of them and therefore leave themselves exposed behind.

Bergkamp-Genius · Post by **Bergkamp-Genius** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 6:01 pm

It's difficuilt passing opinion on this because i have to take into account the way our manager operates, if we were talking about a normal manager i would say unreservedly Kolo has to go for that kind of money.

Since the arrival of Vermaalen i have expected either Galas or Kolo to be shipped out before the end of the summer, because we don't need three players who play pretty much the same mobile covering CB role and certainly not three that will expect to be in the first 11, but we do need another big powerful CB.

So since Kolo has shown out of himself and Gallas to be the lesser defender and he will generate far more funds, it's a no brainer that he should go and the money we get for him and more should be used to buy the very best big CB we can find, if that takes 20m so be it.

The problem is our manager is not a normal manager and i have little faith that if Kolo goes for that kind of money that the money will be used to bring in a top quality CB replacement, i would fully expect him to either do nothing with the money or bring in some make weight squad CB and if that is the limit of his ambition which it usually is, then is see little point in selling Kolo for any amount of money.