Barça To Keep Yaya

[BlackNess]

Barcelona To Sign Yaya Toure Today

Barcelona To Sign Yaya Toure Today The transfer of Yaya Toure will also be completed today, and the player is expected to be presented on Tuesday.


Barcelona are expected to strike a 12m euro deal for the transfer of Ivorian international midfielder from Monaco.

The Catalan giants were offering 10 million, but Monaco were insistent on 12 as they must pay half of his transfer fee to Ukrainian side Metalurg Donetsk.

Dimitri Selluyk, Toure's representative, confirmed that a deal was almost done, and that barring a surprise, would be confirmed today itself.

"The two parties are very close to an agreement, and hopeful of closing the deal," he told Sport.

He will be in Barcelona today to speak with Txiki Begiristain, and formalise an agreement that has more or less been reached over the telephone.

"Barring a surprise, Toure will play for Barcelona next year," he said.

The player is currently in his homeland on vacation, awaiting confirmation, and is expected to reach Barcelona tonight.

He will complete a medical on Monday morning, before signing a four year contract worth two million euros a season, which could go up to three depending on performances and results.

With Thierry Henry also expected in Barcelona tonight, and due to be presented tomorrow, it was being suggested that the two be presented together. However, Toure's presentation will take place on Tuesday morning so as to ensure he gets his share of the attention, and is not overrun by the fuss surrounding Thierry Henry's move.

There is some connection between the two players, though, as Henry himself is a former Monaco player. Also, the Frenchman has already played with Yaya's older brother Kolo at Arsenal.

[lionel]

congrats!!
another signing.. more needed this time.

according to the talks about him getting forward, he will fit more a 4-4-2 formation.. or a 4-2-1-3 with another DM, maybe iniesta.
but it doesn't matter much. how often do barca play a match when they must have 4 players in their half all the time. barca's games are usually games when the opposite team defend with 7-9 players and barca put all their strength to brake the defence wall, so an attackind-defensive-midfielder^^ is good. for the other games we can play marquez as DM(or motta).

[Pat Murphy]

Photos from Sport.es


Yaya chased round an airport by photographers yesterday.


"Yaya Day" will be tomorrow, I have no idea which number he'll get. Maybe Giuly's no.8 (or does dos Santos get that?). Thinking about the numbers I think he'll get number 17.

[BlackNess]

congrats .... good signing !!

[Pat Murphy]

Pic from Sport.es

Compared to Laporta he looks bloody huge!

For some weird reason Yaya has decided to have "Toure Yaya" on his shirt. I guessed right tho and he'll take Van Bommel's old 17. Yaya is Barca's first player from the Ivory Coast and Txiki desribed him as "more of a Vieira than a Baptista", which I should bloody well hope so considering we wanted someone defensive.

Also the fee is strange. We pay £6m (9m Euros) to Monaco and Metalurg Donetsk will get money based on how Yaya does at Barca.

Yaya signs a 4 year deal and will not take up a non-Eu place as he's expected to gain his dual nationality in a few days (proabably French).

[Sven]

Only world class sides have to Ivory coast players .... or just us and Arsenal.. so that doesn't work.. anyway

Good signing, an Athlete like all Africans, better then Motta, though he's no Maka or Essien(had to). But cheaper good option, you certainly strengthen you squad this season...

[Mighty T.A.L.]

Perharps not a world class player but he should do better than players like Motta and Edmilson...

[BlackNess]

so YaYa will be #17..

Henry #14 ..

Abidal #22 ...

good i guess

[BlackNess]

Yaya Toure Begins Pre Season Training Early



The blaugrana side does not report for training until Saturday, but Yaya Toure has taken it upon himself to start his regime early...


Yaya Toure trained alone, under the supervision of a club doctor, three days in advance of when the pre-season regime begins for the rest of the Barcelona squad.

The recent arrival declared that he was getting warmed up early as he'd had "more vacations" than the rest of his teammates.

He undertook basic fitness and toning training before repairing to the gym for some muscle work. Afterwards, he said, "I'm doing everything I can to prepare myself for the team's campaign, and revealed that he had already been training on his own based on programs given to him by Barcelona after his signing.

The new man also described the new club signings as "very good", adding, "This will be a very fruitful season for us, and Barca will win many competitions with the players that we have at the club."

[BlackNess]

Yaya Ready For Barça Balancing Act

Yaya Touré is confident that he can become the player to strike a balance between FC Barcelona's defence and their star-studded attack.


The Ivory Coast midfielder has impressed during his opening two pre-season games and he is confident that he can carry that form into the league next month.

After showing his power and technique against Dundee United and Hearts, Yaya believes that he is capable of carrying out Frank Rijkaard's orders.

"The coach wants me to create a balance between the defence and the attack," he said.

"In a team like Barça, this job is vital, especially as we have so many attackng players. I must keep things on an even keel.

"There are great players at the club and the competition is strong, but if I work hard then I think I can be a regular."

After making the switch from Monaco, the 24-year-old admits he was surprised to find so much companionship among Barça's world class players.

"Definitely the quality and the generosity of my new team-mates has surprised me," he explained. "Also the great atmosphere within the squad too."

Yaya has also been impressed by several of new team-mates, in particular Thierry Henry who is helping both on and off the pitch.

"Henry is a great person and I think that he helps everyone by passing on his experience," he said.

[Super Pibe #7]

You guys do realize he is not really a defensive midfileder

[Podolski]

biography from wikipedia

Gnegneri Yaya Touré also spelt Yahya Toure, (Arabic pronunciation: Yaheeyaa Tooray) (born May 13, 1983 in the Ivory Coast), is an Ivorian footballer who currently plays for FC Barcelona. He has 17 caps for the Côte d'Ivoire.

Touré, a midfielder, is the younger brother of Arsenal F.C. defender Kolo Touré. They have a younger brother Ibrahim Touré, who plays for OGC Nice.

Touré joined ASEC Mimosas youth academy in 1996. After two years in KSK Beveren (Belgium) and two more at FC Metalurh Donetsk (Ukraine), he moved to Olympiacos in 2005. He was nicknamed "the new Patrick Vieira" by his brother Kolo. He is said to have attracted the interest of clubs such as Olympique Lyon, Manchester United, Chelsea, Barcelona, Everton, and A.C. Milan, but has since expressed a wish to play alongside his brother Kolo at Arsenal. He was also selected by Eurosport in 2005 as one of the most promising young players worldwide (Javier Mascherano and Sergio Agüero were included in the list as well). It has since emerged that Arsenal made a €7m bid in January 2006 which was rejected as Olympiacos wanted to wait to the summer to consider selling.

Olympiakos decided to accept a mere €4.5m from French Ligue 1 side A.S. Monaco as a result of the players refusal to return to Greece for the team's pre-season training. Touré accused Olympiacos of not paying his due salaries, while Olympiacos accused him of lying in order to get transferred. On August 15, 2006 Touré completed his move to the Ligue 1 side.

Touré is a central midfielder who stands out because of his physical abilities. Very capable in holding and protecting the ball, he excels in a variety of passes, including long, short and direct. In difficult situations, when his team is under pressure, he has the ability to make forward runs, thus he has been recognized as a box-to-box player.

On 26 June 2007 Spanish La Liga giants FC Barcelona announced the signing of Touré for a reported fee of €10m (£6.7m). He is the Catalan outfit's second signing of the summer 2007 transfer window following the capture of striker Thierry Henry from Arsenal, and he will wear the number 17 shirt.


Good signing I think, but his Yaya Toure shirt looks stupid. I wonder how good Ibrahim is.

[Pat Murphy]

Yeah he is supposed to like getting forward but from what I've seen of him his passing is excellent but I didn't see many tackles, for my money I would have probably gone for Sissoko first but we'll have to hope he can do a job.

SPORT are calling him "el gigante" now. Probably because the rest of the Barca squad are little midgets and he's a quite tall 6'4.

[Pat Murphy]

Iniesta impressed by Touré

Andrés Iniesta, who has started every pre-season game so far, is more than satisfied with what he has seen of Touré Yaya, a player who brings balance to the side’s midfield.

In an interview with Barça TV, he has said he has a great understanding with Touré Yaya, saying that he “is very good physically, and positions himself well. He helps at the back and also joins in up front. His ball control is especially good, and that’s important in a position like his.” Iniesta’s comments echo remarks made by Xavi a few days ago.

Security in the middle

There can be no doubting that the Ivorian has been one of the biggest success stories of the season so far, and Iniesta particularly welcomes him, because he is the kind of player who eases the workload for the players in the middle of the park, saying “we can play a freer and more confident role.”

Higher ground

With Deco away while his fourth child is born, Xavi, Touré and Iniesta have been able to consolidate their roles in midfield. Touré, at 191 centimetres, is just the kind of player to counter the criticism that last season’s midfield was too short. In fact, he is the tallest player in the whole squad, although that does not impede him from having tremendous ball control.

fcbarcelona.com

FCBarcelona.cat


Both Iniesta and Xavi have singled out Yaya Toure for praise this pre-season. The only other players to get similar words are the youngsters. It means that Yaya must be doing something right and getting a good understanding together with Xavi and Iniesta.

I hope that Yaya really does just concentrate on defending and getting the ball forward. We don't need him to make roving runs from the back as we have have Xavi, Iniesta and another 3 in front who are capable of doing the attacking.

[Trim]

With just two days left until the big kickoff, Yaya Toure isn't taking anything for granted - not least his place in the side. The midfielder, 24, today emphasised the quality of the squad, and his willingness to learn at the Nou Camp...

Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure is eager to learn at the Nou Camp - and hopes to start with a place in the first XI to face Racing in Santander on Sunday.

Throughout pre-season, the young