The Toure Brothers to Unite at Eastlands

Barcelona’s Yaya Toure is very close to switching loyalties to Manchester City, according to Barcelona’s media.

The 27-year old announced today that he was very close to signing up with the team his older brother, Kolo Toure, plys for. Kolo Toure, incidentally, is also the captain of Manchester City. And they have another borther, Ibrahim, who plays for Al-Ittihad, in Syria.

Early reports said that ManCity had bid 30 million euros for the mid-fielder, very close to the 35 million price that Barcelona has placed. Ever since he could not be assured of a regular starting spot, Yaya Toure has sought a move away from the Blaugrana, in spite of winning the Champions League,  UEFA Super Cup, Spanish Super Cup, Spanish Cup and the La Liga with Barcelona.

Kolo Toure has often praised his younger brother, even calling him “the new Patrick Vieira” once. A combination of the two brothers might prove to be quite lethal, as Manchester City rolls up it’s petropound-laden sleeves to push for a spot in the Champion’s League again.

They could not do so this season, failing to impress in most big matches (except when they won the double agaisnt eventual League winners Chelsea). They came very close to defeating manchester United, though, but couldn’t go all the way through. With Robinho set to leave the club this summer, they neede to shore up their mid-field, expectant of a new season that shall bring European football along eith it to a club that has always been in the shadow of Manchester United.

Yaya Toure was also linked to Arsenal, as barcelona looked to off-load the mid-fielder for a swap with long-term target Cesc Fabregas. However, talks iwth Manchester City closed to succeeding, the Blaugrana might have to settle for a cash payment only for the Spanish mid-fielder and Arsenal captain.