These were the words of Yaya Toure's agent as he continues to drum up interest in his client - the more "interested" parties for him the better, obviously. But besides the profiteering and the implied slide City have taken in the race to sign Yaya, I actually found these comments quite refreshing.
I think Yaya Toure would be a fantastic addition to the squad - his sheer athleticism would give us the type of box-to-box midfielder we need - but it shows a change of the times that we no longer need to be held to ransom in these deals. The same allegedly goes for the Milner and Torres 'deals', although the fees quoted there make a slight mockery of Dimitri Seluk's assertion.
Whereas last summer you sensed a growing sense of desperation to get deals done - symbolised by the Lescott saga especially, this summer we won't need to. Obviously the change is in circumstance. Thanks to the over-spending last season we now have a squad that doesn't desperately need heady additions. Why spend over the odds on a player, if we already have De Jong in his position? Yes, reinforcements are needed, but not desperately so.
Then there was our league finish. Last season, Carlos Tevez was joining a team who had finished tenth in the Premier League and, although some people are disappointed with fifth, it still places the club in higher esteem - and is tangible proof that City really are on the move up the table. This may not affect the transfer fee as much, but it should mean money isn't the only thing that matters now.
If Mancini, Marwood, Cook etc, are hoping to drive bargains this summer it could well go a tiny way to restoring our image in the game. A lot of my friends who support other clubs were happy with City's bid to break up the 'big-four' until the Lescott saga - where they felt City's behaviour was brash and unnecessary. The slight inflations are always expected on other players but in this case it seemed it was pushed too far. It was perhaps the only case when we really abused the money. It is true that you make enemies on the way to the top, but there is no need to make them unnecessarily.
City can pick and choose a little this summer, so if the money-hungry agents see City are genuinely happy to walk away from a deal, the price may just turn out to be right afterall.
(Although I have a funny feeling this article may be rendered ridiculous over the summer... At least the media would have it so - £70m for Torres anyone?)
You can read the full quote on SkySports.
If City want to deal for quality players then it's probably best they don't jerk them around. We are the biggest fish in the pond, but also the newest. The likes of Barca, Real etc. and their players need City to be strong if we are to gain respect from them. I don't mean getting ripped off, I mean recognising our targets, going for them and concluding our business before the press have chance to influence everybodys view. Stop acting like a child in a sweet shop... Just do it ! If Yaya Toure agents comments are true referring to Citys owners being bankrupt, then drop this player from our plans, we canot have parasite agents dictating to us to do nothing more than line their pockets (scroungers)
ReplyDeleteRight from the start, I haven't felt confident about signing Yaya. His agent sounds like a real small-time jerk with a big-time mouth.
ReplyDeleteForeigners often get the rich and poor manchester teams mixed up, even more so since they swapped positions. City has plenty of liquidity in the UK, following Mansour's bailing out of Barclays, making a £3bn profit within these shores. Lets not forget the trillion dollars outside the UK.
Dimitri Seluk was happy enough for his client to play for a relative financial minnow - Barcelona, so he should feel happy that his clientis about to hit paydirt with the richest, most ambitious team in the world.
This is the big one. Only an idiot could blow it.
Sack your agent, Yaya. City usually walk away from negotiations when someone acts unprofessionally, and don't come back.
I found the comment rather surprising seen as it is Barca that have priced Yaya and the agent who said he was overpriced. We haven't as far as i am aware said anything on the price. Everyone is aware that we pay big wages and at his level and our alleged structure he is going to get over £150k pw.
ReplyDeleteThere is also the little matter of a world cup going on. A lot of stuff will not be resolved which is annoying to us City fans and probably to a lot of others who will do their business once R Madrid, Barca and us amongst others have done their bit.
Your friends should i would have thought been able to see through Moyes antics last season even though it is convenient to blame City for what went on. Funny he is not bleating now that Arsenal and United are linked with some of his players. Unlikely City they cannot afford to pay more.....
Agree with most of this article, except our purcuit of Lescott.
ReplyDeleteWe made an offer, which they refused, which is ok. Then Lescott stated he wanted to talk, i e 'I want to go!!'
Moyes then just kept increasing the price!
Moyes is the one who needs to look at himself, not City!
As for Toure's agent. He's just doing what they all do.... frothing at the mouth!!
CTID
Moyes was only doing the best for his club. If we wont to be a big club we have to pay top dollar. Is it our money? No just a rich arabs' get real.
ReplyDeleteI don't like the agent. You all's comment on him being a money grubber is right on. He is a louse to be sure. I like Yaya. He is as ferocious as DeJong in front of the back four but I feel he is a much better passer than NDJ. We need a good, accurate passer in the midfield. One that can hit the killer pass to either the wing or into the area with accuracy. Out central midfield was woeful in that aspect.
ReplyDeleteErik in the States
Don't get drawn into the Moyes hype. When City inquired about Palacios from Wigan, Steve Bruce also screamed blue murder.
ReplyDeleteThe difference was that Dave Whelan had the decency to turn round and say that Bruce was talking out of his backside, and that City had behaved impeccably throughout the episode. Everton don't know the meaning of the word decency - or class.
He's saying we're bankrupt because we are now refusing to pay agents 'consultation' fees. So we're willing to stump up the 30 or whatever Barca want but we're not willing to pay the agents on top anymore.. which could be anywhere up to another 5 million on top. This is new policy for us so I would suspect more agents bad mouthing us before the summer is gone.
ReplyDeleteoff the point really,you are all aware these posts are world wide and most of us here are uk born right ? dont want the world thinking all us blues are dumb and did not attend school do we ? SORT OUT YOUR SPELLING ! some good points made, but BOY its hard to read some fluently lol
ReplyDeleteoff the point really,you are all aware these posts are world wide and most of us here are uk born right ? dont want the world thinking all us blues are dumb and did not attend school do we ? SORT OUT YOUR SPELLING ! some good points made, but BOY its hard to read some fluently lol
ReplyDeleteIn that case, shouldn't you have written....
Off the point really, you are all aware these posts are worldwide and most of us here are UK-born, right? Don't want the world thinking all us Blues are dumb and did not attend school, do we? SORT OUT YOUR SPELLING! Some good points made, but BOY it's hard to read some fluently. LOL.
:-)
What are we going on about the money for? Who cares the money is not out of our pocket. We don't own our club we support the richest club in the world. Ask the majority of the other prem clubs would they swap with us? GET REAL.
ReplyDeleteA lot of good points in there - a transfer fee is just a fee and it means little once you've crossed the white line - and I never meant to suggest I didn't want the financial backing (Anonymous 09:54).. Although, in thanks to the owners, I am sure they want us to spend it wisely. I remember hearing Khaldoon confidently predicting that the club will support itself in a few years time (now even more important given the 'financial fairplay' intiative) - and we won't maintain that by getting a reputation as being free-spenders. So a bit of bargaining now may hold onto that in the future.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I perhaps should have gone into more detail on the Lescott thing. I am not Moyes' biggest fan either and I found it irritating how he kept on bringing up the Lescott thing before the games against City, but he was within his rights to try to hold onto Lescott. If I were a manager and my player said he wants out, I'd let him go - but Moyes felt he should dig his heels in and he had the right to do so (something that would support Blatter's idea of 'footballers as the modern-day slave'!). And Everton did pretty well out of it.
And although, Moyes didn't cover himself in glory either, I think the public perception of City suffered - especially after Hughes's Cookesque comment about "talking to the people who make the decisions" when asked about Moyes.
It doesn't bother me particularly, but my point was simply that our image in the game would be helped by good relations between other clubs. Any Football Manager players will know how hard it is to sign a player off a manager who doesn't like you!
We should be OK in a few years when the financial "fair" play rules kick in.
ReplyDeleteTo the best of my knowledge, City have paid cash on the nail when buying players (rather than staggered payments like most clubs), from the moment our wonderful owner took over. The club has no debt interest payments to make, and we own our player's contracts outright.
All we have to do is cover wages.
The players we sell are probably on staggered payments, so we will receive payments from other clubs every year. Eastlands is full every match, premiership TV money, and (hopefully) champions league cash will flow in.
Any shortfall can be made by selling one or two of our magnificent stable of players, or by an anonymous purchase of millions of shirts from the gulf region.
Sidneft and ADUG could co-fund an exclusive "petro dollar cup" between the elite big money teams, Chelsea and City. The winner could receive £151M, the loser £149M. Problem solved. Simples!
Mr Base Comedy
ReplyDeleteDoesn't matter what other team's managers think of us, but it does matter what other team's fans think. Moyes disgusting tirades made us look like scum, and we never deserved that. We don't deserve that. Everton are not a nice club. End of.