Goodbye Kolo And The Possible Defensive Changes

With the impending departure of Kolo Toure at centre back the blues will surely need a replacement,add to this the question marks over Joleon Lescott's future with one year remaining on his current contract and speculation will grow in the coming months about possible buys for city at centre back.

Kolo Wearing The Armband For City

Both players have been stellar signings for city over the last few years but with the possibility of Lescott still signing a new deal im going to focus on Kolo Toure.Having joined city at a time when our growth was still very much in the project stage,any new signing was greeted with cynicism from both the perspective of ‘hes only joining for the money’ and thoughts of ‘whats he gonna win there’ from rival fans. It was a gamble from Kolo’s point of view also considering Arsene Wenger had built trophy winning sides during Wengers time at Arsenal but there was huge question marks as to what would happen at city.

On April 13th 2009 Toure demanded a move away from Arsenal after a reported bust up with defensive partner William Gallas, the request was later turned down by Arsenal chairman Sir Peter Hill-Wood meaning he would stay and commit to the club, at least until the summer.

On July 29th 2009 after weeks of speculation it was announced that Kolo would be signing for city after passing a medical and having a bid of £16m accepted a day earlier. Kolo would go on to be appointed captain by Mark Hughes the scoring his first club and league goals against fulham in September and Burnley in November respectively.

On March 3rd 2011 it was announced that Toure had failed a drugs test and been suspended.Kolo had been given a six month ban by the world anti doping agency thus finishing his 2010/11 season premeturely. When Kolo made his come back in 2011/12 he found his role to be more that of a squad player due to the outstanding form of Vincent Kompany and Joleon Lescott. This season has been harder still with the emergence of the outstanding talent of Matija Nastasic, however whenever called on Kolo has been excellent and has lead some fans to call on Kolo to be given a new deal. Kolo will be leaving us and we remember by being a quality player who gave us some excellent perfoemances,his role in bringing his brother Yaya to the club and perhaps most fondly his part in the creation of the ‘kolo and Yaya’ song. Thank you for the 99 games and 3 goals and wherever you go Kolo....good luck.

So this brings me to who could replace him? Do we go with a veteran with years of experience but perhaps looking at the end of his career, a player at his prime but with a likely expensive price tag or someone young but with huge potential in the mould of Nastasic. Below i have included some possible targets and a small profile on each of them.

Player: Pepe
Club: Real Madrid
Age: 30

A Joyful Pepe Celebrating

The Portuguese centre back would likely cost in access of £25m and bring with him a reputation of controversy on the pitch which has included a 10 game ban for twice kicking an opponent while down,pushing the players head into the turf and stamping on him....this after already being sent off vs Getafe on April 21st 2009 thus being hit with a 10 game ban. Pepe suffered an exterior cruciate ligament injury on December 12th 2009 vs Valencia ending his season.There have also been other incidents involving Pepe such as the alleged stamp on Lionel Messi in January 2012. However its not all bad as there is no doubting Pepe’s quality and any player that has played 199 games for Real Madrid can only be of the highest quality. Pepe  can also play as a holding midfielder which could also mean solving 2 positions at once.With a contract until the summer of 2016 Pepe would surely fetch at least £25m.

Player: Kyriakos Papadopoulos
Club: Schalke 
Age: 21

Papadopoulos Playing For Greece

A centre back for Schalke and the Greek national team Papadopoulos is one of European footballs brightest prospects. Having joined Olympiakos from home town club Svoronos Katerninis in July 2007 Papadopoulos went on to become the youngest ever player in the Greek league in the 3-1 win over Atromitos in Decemeber 2007. In June 2010 German club Schalke announced that they had signed the player to a four year deal. Having been an huge success the player signed a new deal until 2016. He so far has 105 games in his career with 7 goals. With the likes of Ac Milan, Zenit St.Petersburg and Liverpool highly interested its only a matter of time before the player is snapped up.

Player: Marquinhos 
Club: Roma
Age: 19
The highly promising Brazilian was signed by Roma in July 2012 from Corinthians                              .Having made his debut in

Marquinhos In The Roma Glory

the 3-2 loss  to Bologna last September the player quickly recovered and entered some very impressive performances at centre back, solidifying his spot as a starter and demoting Argentine Nicolas Burdisso to the bench. There appears to be heavy interest from Barcelona this summer as a possible long term replacement for the legenday Carlos Puyol showing how highly rated the young Brazilian is.

Player: Thomas Vermaelen 
Club: Arsenal
Age: 27

Vermaelen Chasing The Ball

With the success of the newly formed Arsenal centre back pairing of Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker would fellow Belgian be willing to leave the club? The player certainly knows Vincent Kompany well having played together for Belguim.Some question marks such as would Arsenal be willing to allow another player to follow the likes of Nasri, Adebayor, Kolo Toure and Clichy from the Emirates to the Etihad, would City be willing to buy a player with a questionable injury record and is this a player now capable of dislodging either komany or Nastasic? What is true is that the player has a vast amount of experience having played in 129 games for Arsenal including several champions league campaigns,would need less time to settle in with already being a premier league player and does already play with Vincent Kompany for Belguim.


Whoever city go for this summer its sure to be an excited signing and with Txiki Bergiristain at the helm in terms of transfers,I have incredible excitement for this season ahead.

Thanks for reading and be sure to follow me on twitter at @wesvellam83

Wes Vellam.