Inter Milan believe that Yaya Toure will accept a 50% pay cut in order to join the Serie A club in the summer, with Roberto Mancini keen to give his former signing a way out from City after a tough 12 months in Manchester, according to the Mirror.
The Ivorian currently earns £180,000 per week at City, not counting bonuses based on performances, and whilst this is somewhat of a difficult figure for Inter to stump up on a weekly basis, they believe the 31-year-old would accept half of that, which would be £90,000 per week, with bonuses also being incurred.
During his final months at City, many of the players’ relationships with Mancini soured, but Toure’s remained good and Internazionale believe this will be a factor in making the midfielder want to move to Serie A.
The transfer, if it were to happen, would have to happen in the summer due to Yaya’s current international commitments that mean he is currently at the African Cup of Nations, but that is probably also ideal for City; it leaves them enough time to try and bring in a replacement, which is almost certainly needed given how much the former Barcelona man has been missed in recent weeks whilst he’s been off with his country.
Yaya still has two-and-a-half years left on his current City deal, and whilst City have made it clear he will not be getting a new one (he’ll be 34 by the time this one expires), it gives them a bit of lee-way in terms of negotiating a fee for Yaya. Even in the summer, there’ll be two years left and for City that means even if they can’t find a suitor for him then, he’ll still be here the year after – albeit at a slightly lower value.
Yaya Toure has scored 61 goals in 209 games since signing from Barcelona in the summer of 2010 for £24 million.
