Toure Off

So, Kolo is off to Citeh to ensure his financial legacy help them meet their ambitions.  Where does that leave both clubs?

Citeh Analysis
If Citeh were just trying to improve over last season, then they'd definitely have accomplished their goal.  Toure is certainly an upgrade for them. 

If Citeh were looking for big name players who will give them the APPEARANCE of being a big club, then they accomplished that goal as well.  Toure has been an integral part of an undefeated Premier League Champion, FA Cup winning team, and Champions League finalists.  Excellent resume and not entirely past his prime.

On the down side, if you look at Citeh's goals for the season which you would have to assume include "finish in the Top 4" and "challenge for a league title and/or FA Cup" then I'm not sure this is going to help too much.  Think of it as Chelsea adding Michael Ballack - not entirely useless pick up but looks much more impressive on paper than it ever has on the pitch.

Arsenal Analysis
So, it looks like Arsene is cashing in on a bunch of spare parts to build up his war chest.  First K2 is sent packing on the theory that while he is talented, he's also a jackass and that the latter is more important than the former given the presence of RvP, Arshavin, EdS, and Bendtner.  Then Toure - who a) will be out for a while at the African Cup of Nations; b) doesn't get along with Gallas; and c) has slipped a bit over the last two seasons from exceptional to merely better-than-average - is sent packing because there's no way they were ever going to get a better return for him than what they got from Citeh.  Next appears to be Eboue who isn't a terrible squad player to have around but could probably do with a change of scenery after last year's implosion and vote of "no confidence" from the supporters.  Assuming that they get roughly £5M for Eboue (not unreasonable) then the total will be close to £50M betwee the three sales. 

If someone offered me that much money for those three guys given all of the circumstances, I'd say yes in a second with one condition and here's the rub.  That condition is that I have a plan for what to do with that money to improve myself over where I was last season WITH those guys.  That means that Wenger had better get off the mark and sign a holding midfielder and a larger central defender.  If a replacement striker finds his way to the Emirates as well then that would be just dandy as well but I could live without that buy until January if it meant focusing on the other two now.

Certainly there have been rumors linking him just about every holding midfielder in Europe and a bunch of CBs as well (most notably Haageland and Bassong) but it seems like it should be time to get something done. 

What's the impact for fantasy?
Vermaelen's value presumably goes up on the theory that he'll win the job over the returning Senderos and the yet-to-show-he's ready/able Djourou.  (This is assuming that Song is the de facto holding midfielder right now rather than partnering Gallas)

At Citeh there really isn't much of an impact other than pushing down the value of Dunne (assuming he stays), Richards, and Onuoha.  My guess is that, at least until Lescott joins, the starting defenders will be Bridge, Onuoha, Toure, and the winner of Richards/Zabaleta (should be Richards but who knows).

Here's hoping Arsene does something with the money to make this a more interesting article.