Man City midfielder Yaya Toure rejected £520,000-a-week deal from China, says agent By Stephen Turner
Last Updated: 17/01/17 7:32pm
Yaya Toure turned down a £520,000-a-week deal from China during last year's winter transfer window, his agent has told Sky Sports News HQ. The staggering offer came from Jiangsu Suning, according to Dimitry Seluk, but Toure opted to stay at Manchester City where he is now inside the final six months of his contract.
Toure, recently restored to City's squad after a row between Seluk and Pep Guardiola threatened to exile him until the end of his deal, said this month he is staying at City until the end of the season.
The 33-year-old is in line for a recall to the Champions League squad for the knockout stage, and Seluk told SSNHQ: "Yaya wants to play at the highest level. He's happy at Manchester City. Yaya likes football more than money." The financial power of the Chinese Super League has already made its mark on the Premier League, with Diego Costa recently unsettled by the offer of a £30m salary, according to Sky sources. Three other Chelsea players - Ramires, Oscar and John Obi Mikel - did leave Stamford Bridge for the Far East, where former City striker Carlos Tevez is reported to be earning £615,000 every week.
But the Chinese Football Association recently announced new measures aimed at curbing the "irrational investments" of clubs, restricting to three the number of foreign players who can play at any one time.
Those measures in part forced Tianjin Quanjian to end their interest in Costa, who has returned to first-team training at Chelsea.
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/10732711/man-city-midfielder-yaya-toure-rejected-520000-a-week-deal-from-china-says-agent
