With Manchester City keen to broker an £8m deal for Kolo Toure, Football FanCast guest columnist Duncan Raine wonders if it's time that Arsenal looked to cash in.

As the Spuds continue to splash their cash and find yet another £15m to sign a striker today, we at Arsenal are left to make do with both manager and club chairman talking about the affects of the current economic climate and how it influences our transfer policy.

I'm certain that I am not the only Arsenal fan who is furious as to why we remain prudent; considering the great wealth's that we pull in from the Emirates. It simply makes a mockery as to why we supposedly needed to move there in the first place and it is clear it has become nothing less than a financial burden- I often wonder if in the last three years we would have remained trophy less had we actually stayed at Highbury.

So cash strapped is seemingly the company line and Wenger is being forced to scrape the barrel in order to bring reinforcements to a club that has seemingly shut up shop already this season and whose greatest challenge this year is to merely retain our status as a Top-4 club. Our title challenge finished long ago and we don't have enough strength in our squad to mount a serious assault on the Champions League, therefore we should use this window to start laying the foundations for next season and bring in players and blood them in, whilst shifting out some deadwood, or should I say those who have outstayed their welcome.

I have to say that I have always been a huge fan of Kolo Toure over the years. One of the invincibles, Kolo in my eyes has been one of our most consistent performers and in my mind should have been given the captains armband when Henry moved to Barca. I honestly believe that mentally Toure hasn't recovered from the snub, especially as it was given to his not so friendly sidekick and we have seen the player's performance level and consistency drop. Toure and Gallas has never looked like the match made in heaven, however I can't help but feel that Wenger sacrificed the wrong player.

Speculation has been rife in the past few weeks that all is not well with the Ivorian. Reports of a training ground bust up with Gallas, followed by an apparent transfer request, and the constant £8m links to Manchester City suggest that Toure feels it is time to move on. I will be sad to see him go, but I really think a clean break is needed by both parties. Arsene has apparently turned down Kolo's request for a move, but I wonder if it is honestly would be a wise move to keep a player whose head is clearly elsewhere. Whether Wenger is merely biding his time and hoping to clinch a £5m+Bendtner swap deal with West Ham for Matt Upson before agreeing to let him go remains to be seen, but for me it is the right move for all parties and in Upson we will have more than an adequate replacement for the Ivorian.

Is it time for Arsenal to cash in on Kolo Toure?

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