26 Apr 2015

I Quit: 'Tremendous' Liverpool star to leave Anfeld and sign deal with New York Red Bulls

Earlier this season, Kolo Toure confirmed that his Agent was in the midst of talks with Liverpool over a new deal at Anfield, but it now appears that the defender is set to quit the club for a lucrative move abroad.

Liverpool have reportedly offered Toure a new 12-month deal, and when asked about his future in March, the Ivorian international told reporters:

"We're still talking. My agent is talking to the club. We will see in a few days. The club have to think and I have to think as well. It's very important to know...whether you are going to be part of the team or just a squad player"

Well, it appears that contract talks have hit an impasse, and according to The Mirror today:

* Toure is 'set to join' New York Red Bulls this summer.

* He has rejected Liverpool's offer as he wants a minimum 2-year deal.

* Red Bulls 'have said' that they will offer him a contract until 2017.

* An alleged 'source close to Toure' said: "New York Red Bulls have made an approach for Kolo. Once the time comes, we will decide what is best for him."

With Steven Gerrard leaving, Liverpool are very thin on the ground when it comes to experienced players, and if Toure leaves, the club will be almost totally devoid of experienced 'elder statesmen' in the squad, and that could be a problem.

I like Toure; his enthusiasm, vocality, and leadership are vital qualities to have in defence, but he's been usurped in defence by Emre Can, and with Rodgers constantly eulogising the utility man like he's the second coming of Jesus Christ, it looks like Toure will be warming the bench for a while yet.

Gross overpraise aside, the stats show that Liverpool concede fewer goals, and achieve more clean sheets with Can in the team, so in this particular instance, Rodgers is right to play the German ahead of Toure.

Even if Liverpool grant Toure a 2-year deal, he's unlikely to feature regularly in the team, especially if Dejan Lovren continues his late-season resurrection. The Croatian had a superb game against West Brom on Saturday, and after splurging £20m last summer, Brendan Rodgers needs the defender to come good.

Liverpool legend John Aldridge wants Toure to stay. In a recent column for the Liverpool Echo, Aldo hailed the defender as a 'humble man who loves Liverpool', adding:

"Wherever he [Toure] has been, the fans have loved him. Man City fans were singing his name at Anfield the other week. I’ve got the utmost respect for him. He’s a tremendous ambassador for the club".

In my view, Liverpool should just give Toure a 2-year deal. It's a no-lose situation - he may not play that much, but he's a (mostly) reliable backup, and his experience is vital to have around the dressing room.

If Liverpool can afford to pay Jordan Henderson £100k-a-week, the the club can pony up to keep Toure for one extra year.

Author:


78 comments:

  1. For me, this is less about Toure's effectiveness on the pitch and more about his influence on the team attitude/mentality and leadership. If he leaves, we'll have no "senior" players in the squad.Johnson, Gerrard, and Lambert are leaving, and with Toure gone too, things might not hold out for the full season, even if we bring in legitimate talent.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think you're right about the need to make sure the squad doesn't become too lop-sided in terms of it's youth and relative lack of experience. It's another reason that a move for a decorated, seasoned, International quality player like James Milner (if the rumours are to be believed) makes perfect sense.

    ReplyDelete
  3. sometimes having strong characters like gerrard and toure can actually hinder the dressing room spirit because others are afraid to express themselves and we have plenty of experience still in skrtel, lovren, mignolet, lucas (granted he may leave too), and henderson and sakho (despite their age they are pretty experienced at the highest levels). ilori and/or coates could easily do the job of bench warmer and get experience in the europa league next season and im confident lovren will come on stronger next season and step up as one of the more senior guys. toure will be no miss IMO. when all is said and done its not like we have done all that great with the almighty combined 'experience' of lambert, johnson, gerrard and toure so i really dont read that much into it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hes on 75k a week, way 2 much for a player whos never gonna play imo.. thanks kolo, cult hero, enjoy new york

    ReplyDelete
  5. What about Sturridge 150p/w and Balo 95 p/w ???

    ReplyDelete
  6. Give him a 2 year contract ,sell after 1 year and make a profit !

    ReplyDelete
  7. Everton 3 MU 0
    Why ,why ,why did Liverpool not win yesterday?

    ReplyDelete
  8. You cant tell me kolo is more important then studge! yes hes injured alot but hes one of the best strikers in europe when fit, what hes done since joining the team justifies his deal, kolo is not worth close to 75 k a week and is nowhere near good enough to play for us, 75k a week purely for experience is 2 much if he was willing to take a pay cut by half id offer him a deal other then that thatnks but no thanks and i dont think we should keep Balo either

    ReplyDelete
  9. NO ,Im talking about playing time !!

    ReplyDelete
  10. But studges not plying because hes injured kolos not playing because hes crap!

    ReplyDelete
  11. This is proof that we are going nowhere under Rodgers

    LFC Transfers 2014/15
    Can, Lambert, Lallana, Markovic, Lovren, Origi, Moreno Balotelli
    Total spent: £117m
    Last season: 2nd (84 points)
    This season so far: 5th (58 points)

    Southampton Transfers 2014/15
    Tadic, Pelle, Forster, Long, Mane, Gardos, Bertrand
    Total spent: £68m
    Last season: 8th (56 points)
    This season so far: 7th (57 points)



    Now considering Southampton lost many of their key players last season and brought in players to help them, have more points than last season and are only 1 point behind us, what exactly has happened at LFC this season?


    Where is LFC's progress compared to a club like Southampton who lost more key players than us, appointed a new manager and spent far less and are only one point behind us?

    ReplyDelete
  12. No difference , Liverpool is 5 th ,with NO trophy 's!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Sensationalist tendencies4:05 pm, April 26, 2015

    So who quit? I mean you missed the quotations but it was implied when you said: I QUIT, slightly misleading then perhaps.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Agreed, James Milner on a free makes perfect sense

    ReplyDelete
  15. The mind boggles at how poor Liverpool's transfer's have been the last couple of years .
    Is it BR or the transfer committee ?

    ReplyDelete
  16. if we won yesterday we would still have a chance

    ReplyDelete
  17. 'There is absolutely no way a player will come in here if I don't want him,' Rodgers told the Liverpool Echo.

    'I will always be the first person it comes to. That's not being arrogant, that's how we operate here and how it works in this country.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Let him go he is far from a top level player,we need quality not crap

    ReplyDelete
  19. It's time to give Ilori his chance in place of Toure

    ReplyDelete
  20. Kolo is should be called goslo,all this gumf about leaders its a game of football not waterloo,I want players who can wait for it....drum roll.......play football....its thatveasy ,once they can do that the rest is easy

    ReplyDelete
  21. That's just replacing old crap with new crap

    ReplyDelete
  22. I don't want to argue with you, but there is a plethora of reasons... I would guess he is your fellow country man, and you wish to defend him whatever, which is admirable... I should perhaps take up Johnsons cause for the same reasons...

    ReplyDelete
  23. We have 3 established centre-backs with Can, Ilori and Wisdom for cover

    ReplyDelete
  24. If you've ever tried to do anything in a group without a leader, you'll know it's destined to fail.

    ReplyDelete
  25. having sakho, skrtel and lovren as first choice centre backs isn't really a bad thing either.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Jaimie, the new format suits the smartphones pretty well, but did you also notice it does not re-size very well to the notebooks? at least this is the situation with me.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Be nice to have his knowledge and experience around, but if he wants to move on to play regularly, good luck to him...

    ReplyDelete
  28. Maybe, there is definately a case to suggest gerrard starting his actually hindering Hendo's performances...

    ReplyDelete
  29. Being injured is crap.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Always a chance mate.. Did anyone predict that scoreline... and Everton struggling a the bottom... Who's to say any of their remaining fixtures couldn't go the same way.... We "have" to win all our games to give ourselves any chance..

    ReplyDelete
  31. See fee and wages have been agreed with Depay... but you'll pour cold water on that one aswell...

    ReplyDelete
  32. Tell me, have you seen Ilori play at all this season....? I have...

    ReplyDelete
  33. I find it strange that a player as young as these, think it's right they demand CL football... Especially those who haven't been part of a team earning it... Not saying thats Kondogbia, But their are many..

    ReplyDelete
  34. Hey, what's that smell?

    ReplyDelete
  35. Everyone at the WC was better than Gerrard, and the whole England team for that matter, except maybe Sterling, who seems to play very well for England, even when playing s h i t e for LFC...

    ReplyDelete
  36. the so called smaller clubs recruit much better because they dont just wait for a player to have one good season and make a rash decision, paying over the odds for that player. liverpool are probably most guilty of doing this and we also try and ease players in whereas smaller clubs have to put their trust into new players straight away which helps them hit the ground running. take someone like alberto or ilori for example, if say southampton got one of them they would have had faith in him to play him and he would probably be doing well and playing with confidence in the premier league by now (prompting liverpool to then pay 4 times his previous fee). surely it damages a player to move to a club then never play. it even happened with can and only good fortune on his part helped him into the team. its a myth that players need to be eased in.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Sterling has many good qualities... His worst though, his selfish nature that sees him refusing to pass the ball when necessary... Something Brendan has to seriously work on over the summer...

    ReplyDelete
  38. I know, there are definatly more concerning areas of the team to address this summer

    ReplyDelete
  39. We played risky business in the market last summer with all the new faces, it cost us in the beginning of the year, but it'll part divided ends if we get the impact players this summer

    ReplyDelete
  40. the chance is pretty slim tho and I don't expect us to win our remaining 5 games either

    ReplyDelete
  41. It really is about buying 2 or 3 top quality. This might leave us light in some areas but so be it. Depay and Lacazette our 2 main targets then followed by Kondogbia.
    We still could do with backup GK and RB but only if we get the above first

    ReplyDelete
  42. No let him go = it would be one year too many - too slow. Everton did great today but as usual we will fail to win at Hull and B R will say how magnificent we were for most of the game

    ReplyDelete
  43. GLEN Simple answer Sell Balo and Sturidge -obvious reasons

    ReplyDelete
  44. Or that he was suspended for 10 matches

    ReplyDelete
  45. Looking ahead to the summer transfer window, whether BR is in charge or a new face, I'd like LFC for once to do their business as early as possible.

    No faffing about. The targets should already have been identified and a max/min price set for each. Initial offer min, next offer half way between max/min, and then a take it or leave it offer of max.

    All the above should be done in a day or two for each target, with the max and min representative of the market. If it does not work out, move on.

    And most importantly, do the business quickly, quietly and behind closed door. No leaks to the media or even us fans.



    No matter what system is played, I would suggest the following in terms of priority:


    1. Striker
    2. DM
    3. GK
    4. AM
    5. CB
    6. Any other bargains/business.


    Thoughts anyone?

    ReplyDelete
  46. How annoying is it that if we had beaten West Brom we would have been just 5 points behind Utd with a game in hand
    Not going all out to win was a BIIIIG mistake.
    Curse you Hendo...just smack it high into the net as hard as you can, don't sidefoot it!!

    ReplyDelete
  47. Mine would be to identify our targets that we really, really want and just straight away pay the full price for it. if we care about the player and really want him to come, show initiative and get the player. If there are some players who we are unsure about, pay less than max price and see what happens. If we lose out, we were unsure anyway and if they accept, we got a bargain.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Oh Rodgers, you lucky chap. If you break into top 4 in the expense of UTD now, I;m gonna totally forgive you, you'll gonna win over fans, you'll be an instant hero and you'll undo all the shortcomings from last season.

    ReplyDelete
  49. That's being rich.

    ReplyDelete
  50. snippets only ...but by all accounts he isn't burning any bridges down and is lightweight

    ReplyDelete
  51. He's not crap per se, I would say totally useless.

    ReplyDelete
  52. the prem has been the poorest ever this year ...in a nutshell if we cant this year we never will

    ReplyDelete
  53. Agreed, the Prem is definitely in a downward spiral, you just cannot see such a mediocre champion in Chelsea in the 2008-2010. You know my thoughts is, it's not about overtaking UTD now, that's completely normal and nothing supernatural. I'm more afraid that we are so complacent that if we had a 10 points lead, we still would not finish top 4. We didn't seem like scoring at all yesterday it was one of those games that would have been 0-0 after 180 minutes.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Okay but we have to make sure Rodgers and Marsh would start upfront for us having legitimate hopes of a title race.

    ReplyDelete
  55. I would normally agree, but to do so there would be an assumption that we have that money to splash.

    The reality may be we may need to sell before we can buy which is where the hold ups are.

    So in order to buy the top 4 targets may cost:

    1. Lacazette - £25m
    2. Kondogbia - £10m
    3. Cech - £7m
    4. Depay - £20m

    Which is nearly a cool £60m. The question is will FSG authorise that spend in May?

    ReplyDelete
  56. This is exactly how I was imagining it too!

    ReplyDelete
  57. Department just came out denying talks with man u. So that is good, good business if we get this done now without waiting for the window to open.

    ReplyDelete
  58. Let's hope LFC talk to him before Logan does :)

    ReplyDelete
  59. I feel thoroughly sick

    ReplyDelete
  60. What r u talking about? Lyon is a team in shambles it has been on a downward spiral for the last 3 years, they need a total overhaul if they ever want to get back on track; and of course they played with a DM, Soton play with TWO- Schneiderlin and Wanyama; Barcelona play with Busquets and only maybe Real are trying too but it betrayed them more than once this season although Modric injuries are culprit for their form... So i dunno what was your point?

    ReplyDelete
  61. I followed Lpool long before Lovren signed for us, but I opened account here because of the Bashing of Lovren which took this season and wanted to make him a scapegoat for Lpool's poor season and a laughing stock- I concur that his form in the first part of the season was poor but it was a combination of him missing pre-season and Rodgers lack of defense coaching; but I firmly defend and make clear his good outings which there was a solid number if u'll admit fairly

    ReplyDelete
  62. Just to remember- Lovren was chosen in the Premier league team of the year 2013/14 which makes him a defender of the year right? Were the critics idiots in choosing him?

    ReplyDelete
  63. Orme! Why are you banned? I forgive your sins.

    ReplyDelete
  64. Some Hendrix will cheer you up.

    ReplyDelete
  65. Heh, thanks.. I was sniping at Jaimie, if that is how you use that verb. And I really was, though I thought of it as ha-ha, you made an error kinda banter, but he banned me.. First time I think it was justified though..

    ReplyDelete
  66. Yes, same address, don't get it really..

    ReplyDelete
  67. Had to google the guy as I am too young to know everybody from that time. But it was well worth it!

    ReplyDelete
  68. It's true Stars that play with laughing Sam's dice definitely cheered me up : ))

    ReplyDelete
  69. Here's the thing though. If we sell Raheem for 35M+ (and bring in Kono on a free), the cost is cut down significantly. The rest of the squad can garner 20M minimum.

    ReplyDelete
  70. For a young CB, he's playing regularly, so that in itself says alot... Its rare for a CB as young as Ilori to get a decent run of games in any team... Can he improve? definately... But he's is definately on the right curve...

    ReplyDelete
  71. Orme! Sorry I mean Llija say it ain't so?!

    ReplyDelete
  72. Easy to see the guys quality. Will we see this kind of quality in the the form of Kondogbia at LFC next season? Now there's a question.

    ReplyDelete
  73. Am banned.. And what you wrote there is a girs' nickname meaning little fox...

    ReplyDelete
  74. Oh believe me, it matters!

    ReplyDelete
  75. Impeccable use of the verb, Ilija, or as I know you, Orme. Ah, well. What's a bit of sniping/banning between friends. Got to keep things interesting during this period of losses and draws.

    ReplyDelete
  76. Had to Google that one - hope you mean the song! :)

    ReplyDelete
  77. That's some trippy shredding.

    ReplyDelete