I know it’s summer silly season in transfer gossip. This story from The Times is perhaps little more than a rehash of previous stories but when you consider Kolo DID hand in a transfer request in January but was later convinced to stay I wonder if Arsène said wait until the summer for your move. The article also mentions a price of £12million that Abu City are willing to pay, perhaps inflated by the press/bank balance, but for a player who was not at his best last season and only has one year left on his contract even the most ardent Toure fan would say that is good business.
Also consider the African Cup of Nations in Angola in January, that’s Toure gone for a month (assuming they all stay, Adebayor, Eboue and Song as well) two seasons ago that really hurt us when one of the main stays of our team was unavailable for so long, then he came back with malaria.
However you have to consider what will happen to Gallas as well, in my review of our defence I said I hoped Gallas would stay. He is our best defender, despite his off the field (and on them at times) antics, but I think he wants away. It’s World Cup year, I think Gallas would like a final crack at that, but he wasn’t a definite starter at the tail end of last season and now with the arrival of Vermaelen and the emergence of Djourou his place looks even less certain. However whilst our defence does need strengthening it really cannot be weakened – and losing our two strongest centre backs is a massive risk, but one that I suspect Arsène is not afraid to take.
