Touré could be offered as Fábregas bait

Posted Tuesday, June 08, 2010 by theguardian.com

Yaya Touré could be offered as bait in Cesc Fábregas Barcelona deal

Yaya Touré has been priced at €35m by Barcelona and his agent says he could be part of a swap with Cesc Fábregas.

Yaya Touré's agent Dimitri Seluk claims the Ivory Coast midfielder could form part of the deal to bring Cesc Fábregas back to Camp Nou.

Touré has long been linked with a move to England with Manchester City, captained by his older brother Kolo, thought to be leading the race for his signature. City's cross-town rivals Manchester United are also reportedly interested while Kolo's former club Arsenal have been monitoring him for several years.

Seluk revealed last week that a move to the Premier League was all but a done deal and hinted Touré was set for a move to Eastlands, something he now feels is not the case.

"There's a lot of interest in the deal [for Touré]," Seluk told Rac-1. "Arsène Wenger likes him and Arsenal are interested. If the conditions are good, everything can be finished soon.

"He could come into the Cesc deal and Barça and Arsenal are struggling to come to an agreement. Everything has changed with City, because they talk a lot but then afterwards they don't appear to be a rich club but rather a bankrupt one."

Barça confirmed today that they had slapped a €35m price tag on Touré, something which Seluk last week said was too high.

Touré was a key member of the Barça side that lifted six trophies in 2009. Having extended his stay at the Camp Nou last summer, he appeared to fall out of favour in the latter part of the season.

The Barça president, Joan Laporta, is resigned to letting Touré go and feels Arsenal must be prepared to do the same with Fábregas.

He said: "If a player of his characteristics, who also has the privilege of being Arsenal captain, announces to the club that he understands his time there has come to an end and he wants to continue his career at a club like Barça ... I always want players in my club who want to be there and they should have that commitment.

"If a player shows legitimately that he does not want to be at Barça, immediately I open the doors and defend the interests of the club, but I try to reconcile them with those of the player and the buying club."

Barcelona's director general, Joan Oliver, has rubbished reports that Arsenal have told them to double their offer if they want Fábregas.

Fábregas has long been linked with a return to Barça, the club where he learned his trade as a youngster before moving to Arsenal seven years ago and the Catalan giants had a £29m offer for the Spain international rejected last week.

Reports today suggested that Arsenal are now prepared to accept an offer – if Barça increase their bid to £58m.

However, Oliver says they have heard nothing from the Premier League club. "They said they would not sell, it's logical therefore that they have not set a price for him," he said as he left a Barcelona board meeting.

"We made a formal offer. The only official response we have from Arsenal is that they are not ready to sell the player, for which it would be difficult for them to be putting a price when they say they are not selling."

Oliver was keen to remind the public that in Barça's favour is Fábregas's "desire to come" and claims the 23-year-old "would want to sort it all out" as soon as possible.

He claims Barça are ready to complete the deal immediately but admits it will be impossible without either the green light from Arsenal or Fábregas forcing his club's hand.

"On our part, after having made an offer we are ready to sign the deal this very morning," Oliver said. "We still have time to do it but it is a deal we can not do just by ourselves."

The 23-year-old is under contract to Arsenal until 2015 but last month reiterated his desire to head back to Barcelona.