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.