Manchester City May Do £60M Transfer Business With PSG

Reports have it that Manchester City are considering selling Yaya Toure in the January transfer window. This report may come as a surprise to some, although there are others that will be expecting the move to happen.

But why will Manchester City be willing to sell Yaya Toure, sure Toure has not had a good start to the season, but as the saying goes “form is temporary, but class is permanent”, so Manchester City will know it is just a matter of time before Toure gets back into his groove.

One may not have to look so far to determine the reason, in fact as recent as the close of last season, Toure’s agent Dimitri Seluk stated that his client was not happy and did not feel valued at Manchester City due to issues his agent claimed were based on Manchester City showing Toure no respect on his birthday and not allowing him to see his then sick brother. Also others will say Toure is looking for one last “big pay” with PSG his preferred destination.

Looking at Manchester City midfield and the quality Yaya Toure brings to it, Manchester City may be making a mistake selling him. Yaya Toure is arguably one of the best midfielders in the EPL and the whole of Europe, combining the qualities of power, technique, burst of pace and scoring goals, he is one player Manchester city will find hard to replace.

There is also the issue of depth in the squad both Garcia and Jack Rodwell have left for Zenith St. Petersburg and Sunderland respectively, yes Manchester City brought in Fernando from Porto and Frank Lampard from New York City, but considering Lampard will be leaving in January, this means Manchester City must bring in someone to replace Toure if he is indeed sold.

Here lies the problem, Manchester city may face if they try to replace Yaya Toure. Can Manchester city find a player better than Yaya Toure or at least with similar qualities? This may prove a difficult task to achieve. Finding a player to replace Toure with similar quality may not only be be hard to achieve but such a player will not come cheap.

Looking around Europe, how many players come to mind? We can look at Paul Pogba, he does have similar qualities to Yaya Toure, although he may not score as many goals but Pogba provides the incentive of him being a much younger player with many years ahead of him to get better and improve. Also he is familiar with the EPL having played at Manchester United, although just in little bits. But the problem for Manchester city buying Pogba is that he will definitely not come cheap.

Juventus are reported to value Pogba at around 60 million Euros. Now this may or should not be too much for Manchester city to afford considering the amount they spend on transfers and the wages they pay, but with the introduction of the financial fair play (FFP) rules been administered, it may make it difficult for Manchester City to splash out that kind of money. What may work in City’s favour though is the wages Pogba is currently on at Juventus, Pogba is said to be earning low wages at Juventus and he knows he can conveniently double if not triple that at Manchester city, also Pogba may be looking for a new challenge, after winning the Scuedeto thrice with Juventus, he may feel it is time to test the waters elsewhere.

Manchester City will need a lot of luck for all these to work in their favour and may have to look too elsewhere for a replacement and they may not have to look too far, in fact they may look towards a fellow Ivorian, in Tiote.

Tiote came into England as an unknown quantity when he joined Newcastle. He may not be a Yaya Toure but he definitely has his own qualities that can benefit Manchester City in the long run. Tiote is powerful , forceful, has a good awareness and a measure of technical ability, on the downside, he does not have good pace and sometimes tends to lose concentration and also must step up in the goals department, but joining a club like Manchester City can help him overcome his inadequacies.

It could turn out to be a good deal for Manchester City also as Tiote will come relatively cheap and has premiership experience. Tiote himself has recently stated that he won’t mind leaving The Magpies with Arsenal showing interest in him also. If Manchester City do go for him it may be good business for them.