Arsenal defender Kolo Toure has just signed a 4 year deal with Manchester City.  The agreement with the Sky Blues was for a fee of around £16m.  

The 28 year old Ivorian international has spent the last 7 seasons with Arsenal alternating between defense and midfield.  In January 2009, Toure expressed his desire to leave the London club after an altercation with teammate William Gallas.  Toure agreed to hold off his move until the summer.

Although Toure is not the same calibur as John Terry, he is still an excellent central defender.   Toure was the starting center back for the Arsenal side, nicknamed “the invincibles”, that went 49 games unbeaten betweent 2002 and 2003.  Toure reached his peak in 2005-2006 season when he was regarded as one of the best defenders in the world and labled the “African Fabio Cannavaro” by the Italian press after Arsenal knocked Juventus out of the Champions League. Although he is short for a center back, he makes up for it with incredable pace, timing, and leaping ability. 

Toure is Manchester City’s first big name defensive signing of the summer.  The club has already signed forwards Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor, and Roque Santa Cruz, as well as midfielder Gareth Barry.   The club’s pursuit of John Terry looks dead but they are still bidding for Everton and England defender Joleon Lescott.

What do you think of this signing?  Now that the club’s attention is on defenders do you think they have a shot at winning the title?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 29th, 2009 at 2:37 pm and is filed under General, International Soccer, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.