Kolo Toure

Big Toure might not be 100% match sharp, but his experience would make up for it.

 

If he were up for it I'd give him a 6 month contract so he can help fill the void in CB if no one is signed, he's showed signs last season that he still has a spring in his step and has the fitness to keep up.

So many times when he played he was a * magician always popping up in the right place to break down attacks.

We could do worse then give him a short term deal, play a few games and also continue to take advantage of the resource here while he does coaching on the side

 

Great man to have around the place
Great attitude and a great reader of the game.

 

We should 100% keep Toure

 

Even if he only plays a handful of games I can't imagine who we could have better as backup, and everyone seems to think he's been a great help in the squad especially as an influence on the younger players.

The only downside is he's probably on a decent wage compared to a lot of the squad, money men would probably want him to take a drop if he's not going to be a regular starter, he might get a better wage still in another league.

Depends how much he wants to play regularly vs getting into coaching and learning a bit more under Rodgers.

 

BR on Kolo Toure: "His contract is up but there will always be a door open here for him for a different role if that’s what he sees."

 

Veteran defender Kolo Toure admits his biggest regret in an impressive playing career is not winning a trophy while at Liverpool.

The 36-year-old is part of an elite group of players who won Premier League titles with different clubs – Arsenal and Manchester City – while adding the Scottish Premiership crown to his list of achievements after a solitary unbeaten campaign at Parkhead.

Last season at Celtic also saw him become a double ‘Invincible’, repeating the feat from 2003-04 with Arsenal, but despite some notable near misses three trophyless seasons at Anfield still bothers the former Ivory Coast international.

“I nearly won the league with Liverpool (in 2014) and I feel privileged for that,” Toure, a Champions League runner-up with Arsenal in 2006, told Press Association Sport.

“That’s my only regret to be honest because we nearly won the Premier League and came so close twice in the final of the Europa League and League Cup.”

Toure was released by Celtic this summer and with the offer of a potential player-coach role not yet forthcoming from the club the free agent still has hopes of extending his playing career.

He has spent most of the summer in Ivory Coast training and coaching within the national team set up and feels he can still do a job for a club.

“I just want to carry on playing if there is a good option,” he said.

“But at the same time if there is a good opportunity as a coach I’d like a player-coach role to inspire young players because that is what I was doing at Celtic for the last six months.

“We spoke about me going on the staff and I was waiting for an offer to come but nothing is done yet and time is going on.


“I still have something to offer. I have had very few injuries and I can still bring my experience and fighting spirit.

“Every training I give 100 per cent – even though I wasn’t playing at Celtic I was the best trainer there.”

While playing time was limited in the second half of the season Toure insists he still felt part of Celtic’s unbeaten campaign for his second ‘Invincible’ achievement.

“Once you can say maybe it was luck but twice means you have been doing something good and I feel privileged for that,” he said.

“I feel really proud of that. Even if you don’t play a lot you always bring something and the club knows that I brought some experience and guided the young players.”

Toure admits offers of a playing contract may be scarce and has been considering what he would do post-retirement for some time.

Having worked under some big-name managers – Arsene Wenger, Roberto Mancini, Jurgen Klopp and Brendan Rodgers – he has a good knowledge base to tap into should he need advice on making the move into coaching.

“Any club I’ve been all the managers have spoken to me about the next step and wanted me to be involved in the coaching,” he said.

“I love to speak to players and when I play I like to give advice: that is what I learned from players like Martin Keown, Sol Campbell, Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp.

“I can still ask their advice and speak to them because I’ve always had a good relationship with them and learned from all of them.

“I’ve also worked with top managers and I am so privileged to have worked with those guys and I still have contact with them.”

http://www.teamtalk.com/news/kolo-toure-lifts-lid-on-his-biggest-regret-while-at-liverpool

 

Surely given our cb situation, giving him another year's contract makes perfect sense?

 

Maybe don't want to.give him the wages he wants

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I think we would all feel more confident of making the group stages with him at cb that Bitton though

 

Player coach would be nice. Definitely worth having as part of the club.

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My understanding is that there's a player-coach role pretty much on the table but he's unsure if he's wanting to coach yet and may continue playing full-time so yeah he's having a think about it. He'll probably be seeing what offers are out there in a playing capacity over the summer and if the right offer isn't there he'll probably end up back here.

We could definitely do with someone coming in to plug the gap and I'd happily have Touré back; the coach role is a bonus as he'll be a good influence on the squad and won't need guarantees of regular game time (which is fine to offer if we sign a first pick who'd replace e.g. Erik or Boyata but if we're signing a stop-gap as cover for injuries, the quality available will go down if we can't give them playing time).

 

So everything that's been reported so far aye.

 

He's finished as a player. Good stop gap for a year but we've got 5 better options at centre back now.

 

Starting to think we need him just for the dance, pretty sure there is some good juju in that.

 

2 mainstays are injured. Leaves stig, bitton and Ajer. 2 of which are not natural cb's. Why not take him for another year. Obviously he isn't the player he once was but who would you honestly pick to be cb out of Bitton and Toure? Mind the champs league revenue is potentially resting on that

 

Some of his displays for us at centre-half were appalling, let's not kid ourselves on here. He is being praised on reputation and experience and not performances. I even think his performance in the Middle East has been the subject of hyperbole, what got us through that game was Erik coming on, before that the defence was an absolute shambles.
In saying that, he seems to be a great influence around the squad and would love to see him back as a coach, but he shouldn't be left near the first team. It is revisionism at its finest.

 

Player no, coach aye...

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