Catalan sports paper Sport claims that a renewal of the contract of Barcelona defensive midfielder and Ivorian international Yaya Touré (26) is close.Touré will be offered a serious pay rise as a reward for his performances of the last two years and his contract will be extended for one more year, until 2012.
The player's agent Dimitri Seluk reportedly said that a the new deal will be closed soon after the poisition of both parties came closer. Seluk would now be waiting for a call from the club and could meet with Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain in the coming hours to finalize the agreement.
Read more:
Agent Toure putting pressure on renewal talks
Manchester United wants to sign Toure
James Said,
We'll be going through this again next year. How fun ;)
Posted on 13 June 2009 at 00:55
jordy Said,
indeed untill 2014 sounds better.2013 at least..
Posted on 13 June 2009 at 00:59
hawk_barca_4_life Said,
well its a good news ..almost equal to a good transfer but as comented by james his agent will again push for pay rise next year ..it shd had been extended till 2014...now valdes will follow soon... .p
Posted on 13 June 2009 at 01:01
sashi Said,
gr8 news. transfer target 1 almost done :D and wats with all the VV haters????? he deserves it.
Posted on 13 June 2009 at 01:19
James Said,
Valdes doesn't deserve to be paid better than Casillas and Buffon. He should be ecstatic with Barcelona's offer of 6 million per year.
Posted on 13 June 2009 at 01:22
skanjos Said,
no he doesnt..... 6mil is the top he deserves .no other keeper is earning more and that will put him along xavi,iniesta .he wants more? $$#%#@$^ him i say.why with all the haters?he is blaugrana he shouldnt be so money hungry,he should know that barca doesnt have huge wage,he should get the 6mil...and thats alot for his talent.sorry m8 but i dont agree with u.
on another story bayern say that they want 90million for ribery ,thats great real see what you did there?....this summer will be the worst transfer summer in a long time.i bet the transfers will freeze till mid august and we are going crazy over here hehe
Posted on 13 June 2009 at 01:23
Anonymous Said,
hopefully it's true
Posted on 13 June 2009 at 01:26
Xaviniesta Said,
a serious pay rise yet only 1 yr extension? i dont get it. btw, how much is valdes currently earning? if the renewal is for double that then the offer is reasonable but not if his pay has been static since 5 yrs ago. valdes is pushing this cos he thinks we depend on him there being no one to seriously compete with for his position.
Posted on 13 June 2009 at 01:40
hadi Said,
THIS IS THE BEST NEWS EVER...TOURE TRUELY DESERVED IT AND I'M HAPPY THAT BARCA TRYING TO KEEP HIM...BARCA 4LIFE
Posted on 13 June 2009 at 01:43
James Said,
You don't get it? Yaya and his agent want more money if you want to tie him down to a longer contract. This way he can ask for a raise again next year or the year after.
Valdes has no bargaining position. There's no other club in the world that values him as much as we do. We have replacements who would be willing to come (Asenjo) should he fail to sign. Even if he were a more valued commodity by other clubs he still wouldn't be worth Messi/Eto'o/Henry/Xavi salary levels. Plus, what we're offering him makes him one of the top paid goalkeepers in the world already.
Posted on 13 June 2009 at 01:44
Marws Said,
YEY! :D I love Yaya
Posted on 13 June 2009 at 01:46
sashi Said,
James : VV may not go to a bigger club. may be he wont win many titles if he leaves us. but the bigger loser would be us. just think about it. i just cannot fu*kin believe tat everyone is vouching for Asenjo. wats wrong with ppl? he would crap the hell out of himself with the amount of pressure at Barca.
and for ur info, 1. Messi,2. Eto and 3.Xavi, Iniesta are in 3 different pay brackets. u wanna give Eto the pay rise he asks for to keep him in level with Messi?
and why doesn't VV deserve to be in the bracket of Xavi n Iniesta? man, he's been with us for 9 years... just think about it. he hasn't had a pay rise since 2005. had it been someone else, they would've asked for a rise after the CL finals in 2006. but he dint. he's seriously being honest with us.
Posted on 13 June 2009 at 02:48
Aussie Barca Fan Said,
Great news about Yaya. He is an EXCELLENT player and worthy of a good pay rise. I think VV will sign a new deal. Agents have a way of dramatising renewals and making it seem like the world is ending and the club doesn't love their client.
We need to be realistic. How much more would VV command elsewhere?? Milan don't pay their players half what Barca do. Man City?? Highly unlikely. Chelsea, Cech. It doesn't leave many clubs.
Just be patient and everything will work out fine.
Posted on 13 June 2009 at 02:58
Mast Said,
it's only a one year extension, cause by that time busquets will be just as good!
Posted on 13 June 2009 at 03:08
$_$ Said,
great news finaly
Posted on 13 June 2009 at 03:29
Anonymous Said,
:((((((((((((((((((((
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/13062009/3/real-madrid-swoop-villa-report.html
Posted on 13 June 2009 at 03:40
SJP Said,
best signing we will make this year. but i agree the 1 year extension is worrying, if it was 2 or 3 years i'd feel better.
by the way love the picture pep, hopefully we will see that again this year!
Posted on 13 June 2009 at 03:45
James Said,
@Sashi
They're actually not all in different pay brackets. Xavi just got a raise with his extension. And Iniesta's been offered a raise after the season. It's Messi > Eto,o Henry, Xavi, Iniesta at similar levels. Why are you bringing Eto'o into it? I never said we should give Eto'o a raise, which is precisely why I agree with the club's stance on Eto'o and not just offer him whatever he wants because I know that would break the pay structure.
And no Valdes doesn't deserve the same as Xavi & Iniesta for the same reasons that Xavi & Iniesta make less than Messi. It's not about seniority, it's about what you're worth and what you can get on the open market. The contract we've already offered him is more than any other club would be willing to give him. Therefore it is more than what he's worth. A 9 million deal would be insanity. It's not like we're offering him peanuts. 6 million a year is as I said before, already one of the best wages for a goalkeeper.
You're right he could have gotten a pay raise before after 2006. But do you know why he didn't? He did the same thing 5 years ago and the club caved to his demands and gave him a contract that was greater than his worth. Even if he had gotten a raise in 2006 it would have been a raise to 4-5 million. By this time if he asked for a second raise it would still only raise to 6 million.
Valdes has done really well this season in key games, but there were plenty of games where he was very shaky. He's not irreplaceable is all I'm saying.
Posted on 13 June 2009 at 03:53
buj Said,
Good move by barca giving him a one year extension with a payrise. As I have said with Valdes case, prove that this season is not a one-of. Ofcourse next year we'll do this again but the environment would be different. No African Cup or WC 2010 and who knows maybe RM, Chelski and the lot might tighten their purse strings (unlikely).
Posted on 13 June 2009 at 05:04
Knives Out Said,
Best transfer of the summer that wasn't!
Posted on 13 June 2009 at 06:00