Baky Not Gone Yet; Ospina On His Way

By: Martha | July 4th, 2008

After the reports last night than an agreement had been reached between Marseille and Nice, I expect to wake up this morning and read that Baky Koné was gone. (I even had a clever, alliterative headline ready: Bye-Bye Baky. I remain irrationally hopeful I will not have to deploy it.) Instead, word comes that Maurice Cohen went on the radio this morning and was unusually firm about Baky — he admits that negotiations with with Marseille are ongoing, but insists that that he’s not going to drop his price to meet l’OM’s demands. (Conveniently ignoring that just a month ago he said Koné wouldn’t leave for any less than €15 million. Bygones.) No only that, but apparently there’s been a mid-July deadline put on negotiations: If there’s not an agreement by 15 July, Marseille can forget it. So there!

All that said, though, by all accounts, Baky wants to go to Marseille, and if reports that they might “give in” and pay the €10 million Cohen seems to have decided is a fair price are accurate, it still seems only a matter of time before the little Ivorian is gone. Sigh. Let’s talk about something else, shall we?

In good news, Cohen has announced that David Ospina, the baby Colombian keeper on whom talk had cooled recently, is expected in Nice Tuesday to formalize his contract and be presented to the press. There’s an agreement in place with Nacional Medellin; the kid with arrive for a feel close to that originally rumored — between €2 and €2.5 million — and will sign for four seasons. If all goes well, he could be first choice before the season is over. Yay!

I mean, I’m a big, big fan of Lionel Létizi, have massive respect for the good humor with which he’s handled his role for the past could years, and think no one deserves a chance for a last hoorah at his first club than he does. And, based on how he performed at the end of last season, I’ve got total confidence in him as a keeper. That said, though, as I mentioned yesterday, Ospina has the potential to be a massive signing: He’s young, yeah, but he’s been first-choice at his club since he was 17, and has seen everything there is to see — the kid’s unlikely to be intimidated, and one suspects he’ll be able to handle the inevitable setbacks with a lot more aplomb than most people his age. (I admit it, I’m think about Fernando Muslera’s disastrous debut for Lazio against Milan. That won’t happen for Ospina. It won’t. She said, crossing her fingers.) Yeah, I’m excited about this.

Also, a few other possible additions: Abeku Kuansah and Enoch Adu — both Ghanian U-18s — are training with the team now, as is Rodrigo Galante, a 19-year-old Argentine. Galante is on trial; it’s hard to tell what’s going on with the other two, but from what I can tell they’re only in Nice on a temporary arrangement.