Arsenal are lining up a potential £6 million January bid for Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure. The Ivory Coast international has been linked with a winter exit from the Camp Nou for some time now after falling out of favour with Barca manager Pep Guardiola.

Arsene Wenger is keen to bring a new central midfield player to the club after seeing both Alexander Hleb and Matthieu Flamini leave the Emirates during the summer. Since been told he has money to spend for the upcoming transfer window, Wenger has been linked with several big name players and Toure is the latest to be linked.

The 25-year old has spent just a year-and-a-half at Barca and, in truth, hasn’t had the best of times. He has made 39 appearances in total for the Catalan giants, scoring just three times in the process. Yaya, is of course the brother of Gunners defender Kolo and it has been speculated on more than one occasion that the pair would link up at either Arsenal or Barca.

What a good signing this would be for Arsenal. I have always rated Toure very highly and I think if Arsenal were to sign him for £6 million it would be a real bargain. I feel Fabergas and Toure would make an excellent partnership in the heart of the Gunners midfield should the move happen. With January fast approaching, make sure you stay tuned to Football Corner for all the latest news.

Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure has today admitted he turned down a move to Premier League giants Arsenal.

The brother of Arsenal defender Kolo has today claimed both Arsene Wenger and his brother were trying to persuade him to move to England and sign for the Gunners but Yaya wasn’t interested.

The 25-year old has been at the Camp Nou for two years now since joining from French side AS Monaco.

He was seen by many as a perfect replacement for the former Gunners holding midfield player Matthieu Flamini who joined AC Milan this summer. “Both Wenger and my brother told me in the summer that I should join Arsenal, but I told them that I am very happy at Barcelona,” he said on RAC-1 radio.

I personally am a big fan of the Ivorian international. He plays in, what many people call, the Claude Makelele role just in front of the defence and I think he would of been a real hit at the Emirates.