MANCHESTER CITY have agreed personal terms with Arsenal defender
Kolo Toure as the Premier League’s most affluent football club
continue their assault on the English transfer market. City expect
to sign Toure, Joleon Lescott and John Terry by the end of August
for combined fees of around £100m.
Occasional Arsenal captain Toure has been seduced by City’s
standard double-your-money offer and following a season in which he
was not consistently Arsene Wenger’s first choice should be sold
for around £15m. The Arab-financed club have offered Everton £20m
plus England under-21 international Nedum Onuoha for Lescott, who
has been attracted by the prospect of starting in his preferred
central defensive position.
The assault on Terry, however, has proved the most complicated
with Chelsea, acting on orders from owner Roman Abramovich,
repeatedly stating he is not for sale at any price.
Indeed, Carlo Ancelotti, the Chelsea coach, made the strongest
statement yet on Terry when he promised his captain would remain at
Chelsea and ignore the City overtures. “For sure Terry will stay in
Chelsea, we have never had a problem,” Ancelotti said. “We have to
wait. You have to have trust in me.”
City continue to receive strong encouragement that Terry wants
the £250,000 weekly wage on offer in Manchester and are preparing
to push the transfer fee beyond £40m to secure him. They are also
boosted by Terry’s sustained public silence on the matter,
conscious that the player’s future will remain unresolved at least
until he has stated his intention to continue his career at
Stamford Bridge or to move north to Eastlands.
It is understood the 28-year-old has been disappointed with the
club’s failure to make top-tier reinforcements and that Abramovich
did not consult him over Carlo Ancelotti’s appointment as manager.
He has also complained of Chelsea’s lassitude in contacting him
after City’s initial summer offer, and over having to wait a week
for a meeting with Abramovich after the second.
Though Terry appears to face a difficult decision over his
future, Hughes and his coaching staff remain confident he will
manage to extricate himself from Chelsea — even if he is forced
into requesting a transfer.