After initially pushing back a bid from Turkish side Trabzonspor for the services of veteran defender Kolo Toure, the Ivory Coast international looks set to leave Anfield after the two sides agreed to a £1.6mil fee for the player.
“Kolo has been an incredible player. We brought him in because he is a winner, an authentic winner,” said Reds boss Brendan Rodgers after new broke that the club had rejected a bid for the 33-year old defender last month. “He’s someone who doesn’t play every single week but when he does play, he plays very well. Every day of his life in training, he gives his all.” Despite all that, it doesn’t appear to be enough to keep him at Anfield with the player set to meet with the Turkish side to discuss terms next week.
With Rodgers bringing Southampton defender Dejan Lovren to provide a serious dose of competition for Martin Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho, it’s unclear where Toure would fit in to the Northern Irishman’s plans next season. The future’s of both Daniel Agger and Sebastian Coates both remain up in the air with one of the two expected to join the experienced center-half in leaving Merseyside this summer.
Despite adding a number of players to his squad this summer, Trabzonspor boss Vahid Halilhodzic is still playing the market and Toure looks set to be his latest capture with the Turkish outfit hoping to provide both stability and cover for their own preferred defensive pair this coming season.
More on this as it progresses…
